


Young Avengers: Nobody's Sidekick

by PrinceofSpaceGays5



Series: Young Avengers Assemble [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Young Avengers, Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Billy and Tommy are Maximoffs, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Young Avengers In The MCU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-01-24 00:30:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21329251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceofSpaceGays5/pseuds/PrinceofSpaceGays5
Summary: Years after Avengers: Endgame, the next generation of heroes will form as the Kree Empire and Skrull Radicals set their sights on the Kree/Skrull hybrid, Prince Dorrek. The remaining Avengers reunite to protect him while leaving their kids and apprentices behind to keep Dorrek company. However, a building full of teenagers always leads to trouble. Especially when Dorrek meets Billy Maximoff, the son of the Scarlet Witch. All while the Skrull and Kree target the Earth with these young heroes having to come together to protect their new friend and become the Young Avengers.
Relationships: Teddy Altman/Billy Kaplan
Series: Young Avengers Assemble [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1537639
Comments: 18
Kudos: 69





	1. When the Day Met the Night

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy, Kudo, and Comment!

Chapter 1 - When the Day Met the Night:

“I can’t believe we get to go to an Avengers’ meeting! Are we finally getting uniforms and codenames? What about rooms?”

Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, walked along the grounds of the Avengers’ Compound in Upstate New York with her twin sons, Tommy and Billy. Her raven locks blew against the breeze. She reached to grab Tommy before he could superspeed his way into the compound before security could verify their identity. His silver hair almost became a blur when the web of scarlet-colored magic wrapped around his body to prevent him from running.

“You’re only coming with me to the compound,” said Wanda. “You’re not sitting in on the meeting.”

“Oh, come on, mom! Tony Stark let that Spider-Kid be an Avenger and he was younger than we are when he first joined.”

“And look how well that turned out for Peter.”

Billy brushed his dark bangs away from his face, while listening to Tommy argue with their mother for the dozenth time that day. He could only laugh as Tommy was fighting a losing battle.

He didn’t mind that they wouldn’t get the VIP treatment. He was just excited to see the compound and be around the other Avengers. Sure, it was cool that his mom was an Avenger, but he so rarely saw the other Avengers that they were more like rockstars to him than regular people.

Tommy mumbled on about how unfair it was that they weren’t going to sit in on the Avengers meeting. His anger only got worse as they were about to the compound when a sonic boom greeted them. They spotted War Machine landing only a few feet away with a Quinjet following only moment laters.

War Machine’s faceplate retracted, revealing the face of James “Rhodey” Rhodes. He waved over at them. “Hey, Wanda! I didn’t expect you to bring the boys with you,” he said, screaming over the Quinjet’s engines.

“You know I can’t leave these two unsupervised, Rhodey.” Wanda pushed Tommy towards the door, while signaling to Billy to take him inside.

In that second, Tommy tried to make a run for it with flickers of green energy gathering around him when waves of blue energy ensnared themselves around his legs, keeping him from budging an inch. Tommy glared over at Billy as blue magic rippled over Billy’s hand.

“Let’s go, Tommy, before you embarrass mom again.”

“I’m not the embarrassment, crybaby!”

Billy tightened his grip on Tommy’s legs. The blue magic squeezed Tommy tighter, causing him to yelp as he begged Billy to ease up as he tried to hop his way towards the door.

While the boys entered the compound, Wanda met Rhodey in the middle.

Rhodey chuckled. “Those two are a handful. It's still weird to see you as a mom.”

“It’s weirder being one,” said Wanda. “Especially the mother of teenage boys overnight.”

About two years ago, Wanda was a single woman with no children. However, in her efforts to restore fellow Avenger and her lover, the Vision, back to life, Wanda allowed a demonic entity to use his body as a vessel. And while she defeated the demon, her actions created a ripple for other demonic entities to break their way into the mortal plane.

She worked alongside Doctor Stephen Strange to defeat the demon, Nightmare and his allies from across the multiverse. And as a consequence of their journey across the multiverse, their actions tampered with their reality and saw to the creation of her sons. Born from her desire to have a family after losing her parents as a child, her brother Pietro to Ultron, and the death of Vision, Billy and Tommy seemed to be the universe’s way of paying her back for her loss.

And she would use every ounce of magic in her to protect them.

The Quinjet’s hangar doors opened. A few more bodies came out that Wanda quickly recognized. Pepper Potts-Stark came out with Morgan in her arms, while T’Challa and Okoye followed behind.

Clint Barton soon came out the jet with a dark-haired girl coming out beside him.

Wanda turned to Rhodey, asking if that was Barton’s daughter only for Rhodey to shake his head.

“That’s his apprentice.”

Before Wanda could ask what Rhodey, everyone else was already there.

“Hello, Wanda.” Pepper helped Morgan to the ground. She held onto Morgan’s arm as she was just about to bolt too, but luckily wasn’t as quick as Tommy. “It’s been a while.”

“Too long, Pepper.”

“Ms. Maximoff.” T’Challa said as he gave a small bow.

“King T’Challa.” Wanda bowed back.

Clint laughed. “Why is everyone so formal all of a sudden? Is it because Stark and Rogers aren’t around anymore to break the tension?” He went over to hug Wanda, being the only one amongst them not afraid of physical contact. “How are you, spooky girl? Did you bring the boys too?”

“Good. And they’re here too.” Wanda looked over Clint’s shoulder, keeping an eye on the girl. She coughed as she looked over to Clint for an explanation.

“Ah! Yeah. Wanda, this is Kate Bishop. Kate, this is Wanda. Kate is my apprentice.”

Kate walked around Clint and held her hand out to Wanda. “More like I’m the superior Hawkeye.” She smiled as Clint flinched at her comment before she shook Wanda’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Maximoff.”

“Please, call me Wanda, Kate.”

Clint broke them apart, telling Kate to take Morgan inside, while the rest of them spoke. Kate shrugged as she took Morgan from Pepper without any trouble at all considering how quickly Morgan latched onto Kate during their plane ride.

Rhodey chuckled as he turned Clint. “I like the new Hawkeye. She’s got attitude.”

“She’s a handful, alright. Almost as much as my kids.” Clint looked around the compound. “So...is it just us? What about the others?”

Pepper checked her phone. “Well, Banner’s running late. He did say he’s bringing Jennifer with him though.”

“And Hope’s trying to corral Scott and Peter,” said Rhodey. “They’re in the kitchen with the rest of the kids. Sam and Bucky should be inbound soon.”

“Valkyrie is busy with the Asgardians,” said T’Challa, “but we will keep her updated.”

“Thor’s still offworld with the Guardians,” said Wanda, “and Strange is in another dimension.”

“I guess this is good enough then.” Clint crossed his arms over his chest. “So does anyone know why we got called here? All I got was some vague text from Fury about Carol needing us.”

Everyone shook their heads as what Fury wanted could be a million different things. All they could do now was just wait until he arrived.

*~*

Inside the compound, Billy watched as Scott Lang and Peter Parker inhaled everything in the kitchen.

“You do know the food is for everyone, right?” Hope Van Dyne slapped a slice of pizza from Scott’s hand before he could finish off another box. Meanwhile, Peter got away with taking another slice before Hope could catch him. “Now, hurry up, you two. Everyone is waiting for us outside.”

“Don’t rush us!” Peter said, reaching for another slice only for a silver blur whizzed by him and the slice was gone. “Hey! Tommy, that’s cheating.”

Tommy reappeared next to the counter having already half of the slice. He stood next to Cassie Lang who rolled her eyes at him. “Tough cookies, Spider-Kid.” Tommy finished off the slice.

“Spider-Kid? I’m like four years older than you.”

“Enough fighting. Let’s go,” said Hope as she took Peter’s arm and dragged him out the kitchen before grabbing Scott too.

Scott choked on the soda he was midway through drinking. He coughed it out as he looked back over his shoulder. “Cassie, you’re in charge! Keep those Gremlins in line until we come back!”

Cassie chuckled. “You got it, dad.”

“What’s a Gremlin?” said Billy.

Scott gasped. “That kid’s almost as ignorant as you are, Parker.”

“Can it, Scott, or I’m going to web your mouth shut.”

Before a brawl could start, Hope dragged them out of the kitchen, leaving the kids alone.

Meanwhile, Kate walked in with Morgan in her arms. Cassie quickly greeted Morgan, while they all paused when looking at Kate.

“Who are you?” asked Tommy as he grabbed another slice of pizza. “The babysitter?” He winked over at Kate. “The hot babysitter.”

Kate helped Morgan to the ground. “Name’s Kate. The new Hawkeye.”

Morgan wasted no time in rushing over towards the fridge to grab a juice box with Billy watching her to make sure she didn’t make a mess.

“Sweet!” Cassie ran over to Kate, shaking her hand a little too aggressively in her eagerness to be around a girl her own age. “I’m Cassie! Ant-Man’s my dad. Oh! And those are Wanda’s sons. The jerk is Tommy and the quiet one is Billy.”

Tommy gasped, while Billy and Morgan laughed.

Morgan went over to the counter and climbed up on a barstool. She reached over for the pizza but it was a little too far from her reach. “A little help please,” she said to Billy.

“Oh! Sorry, sweetie.” Billy started to fix Morgan a plate. He thought he would take it easy by giving Morgan just a slice, but she demanded two more. And who was he to deny the little girl food.

“Little Stark likes to eat,” said Kate.

“She’s her father’s child,” said Cassie. “Hopefully with less of an attitude.”

Tommy grabbed yet another slice. “I still can’t get over the fact that you’re Hawkeye, but we’re the kids of Avengers and we don’t even get codenames. Don’t tell me you have a costume!” Just as Tommy was about to eat the slice, Billy snapped his fingers with the pizza magically appearing in his hand instead. Tommy tried to reclaim his pizza when Cassie yelled at him to behave.

Even though he could easily take her, Tommy didn’t like the thought of having to square off with her dad and step-mom.

“No costume, yet.” Kate took a soda out of the fridge. “Who knows though. My training has been going pretty well. I may get to suit up soon.”

“Totally unfair!” said Tommy.

The thud of boots kept Tommy from ranting further. Everyone looked out the kitchen to see a dude approaching them dressed up in what resembled a hybrid of Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson’s Captain America uniforms. There was lots of dark blue, but his chest had a mix of white lines on it and a star across his left breast. And strapped to his back was a small, star-spangled shield. He tore his mask off, revealing his dark skin since there was no need to maintain a secret identity in front of friends.

“Who's the Captain America cosplayer?” asked Billy.

The young man laughed. “I’m Elijah Bradley. Friends call me Eli, and the field name is Patriot. I work with Sam and Bucky.”

“Another one!” said Tommy. “Come on. Billy, Cassie, and I are kids of Avengers but we don’t have costumes or codenames. This totally isn’t fair.”

Morgan took a long sip of her juice. “Life isn’t always fair,” she said before taking a bite of pizza.

Billy’s lips curled inward as he resisted the urge to laugh at just how blunt Morgan was.

*~*

Outside, the last of the Avengers arrived. The Quinjet landed with Sam, Bucky, and Eli. They brought with them Bruce and his cousin, Jennifer, the She-Hulk. Bruce still took on his hulking form and no longer needed a cast after briefly wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, but the scars of wielding cosmic power remained. As for Jennifer, she remained normal like Bruce did until the angry lady took over and she went green too.

Everyone gathered now that the kids were inside and out of their way as they tried to figure out why Fury called them here this time.

“He’s not going to take me away from another European vacation to save the world, is he?” asked Peter. “I just spent a lot of money on a proper trip to Paris for MJ and me.”

Clint chuckled. “We’ll let you go on your vacation and take care of Fury to make up for not being there for you for the Mysterio fiasco.”

“I would really appreciate that.”

The roar of an engine took their focus. A car came down the road and quickly came to a screeching halt in front of them. In a moment, Nick Fury came out with Maria Hill in tow.

The Avengers immediately bombarded Fury with questions about why they were all here only for Fury to raise a hand.

“I’m not the guy you should be asking those questions,” said Fury.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Hope.

Scott jumped forward “Yeah, dude! You’re the one who messaged us all to come here.”

“What means to say––” Maria’s form began to shift as her skin began to turn green, her eyes became large and black, and she grew weird, pointy ears. Everyone gasped as they didn’t know what was going on, especially as Fury began to change his appearance too. “He’s not Fury. And I’m not Hill. My name’s Soren and this is my husband, Talos. We’re S––”

“Skrull,” finished Pepper. “Fury told Tony and me about them...but how long have you been acting as Fury and Hill?”

“Since after Starks’ funeral,” said Talos.

Peter jumped towards Talos. “Wait! So it wasn’t Fury that hijacked my vacation. It was you! You’re the psycho that was yelling at me for being a kid!”

“You’re also an Avenger and needed to start acting like one,” countered Talos.

Peter clenched his fist but resisted the urge to punch him. He muttered something under his breath as he backed away.

“Then you didn’t call us all here?” asked Bucky. “I’m guessing it was the real Fury.”

“Good guess,” said Soren. “He called us here too. I guess Fury and Hill are done with their real mission if they wanted us to tell you the truth.”

“Where were Fury and Hill then?” asked Sam.

Talos and Soren pointed to the sky, which everyone took to mean space.

And just as that thought crossed their minds, another boom came from the sky with a small spacecraft descending from the sky. The spacecraft landed closer towards the water, while they all started to walk over towards it as it began to cool down.

“Fury and Danvers are certainly a fan of their dramatic entrances,” said Okoye.

Bruce started to laugh. “Somethings never change. Let’s see what Fury wants now.”

With the hangar doors opening, the Avengers were all-present to greet their visitors. In a few moments, Fury and Hill came out of the ship, looking skinnier than they were used to seeing. Clearly their time in space was a bit rough, which could partly be tied to them returning.

They tried to get some answers out of the real Fury, but were interrupted as Carol showed up with another Skrull following her lead who was dressed in a black bodysuit with purple lines running across its torso. This Skrull appeared smaller than Talos and Soren, but with a physique that resembled enough like Talos that they assumed the Skrull was male. Either way, the Skrull hung close to Carol as it didn’t get too close to the Avengers. Not even seeing Talos and Soren was enough to get the Skrull to drop its guard.

“You’re okay,” Carol softly said to the young Skrull. “You’re amongst friends.”

T’Challa coughed as he called over to Fury for answers. “Care to explain why we’re all here and why you’ve been missing?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Fury gave T’Challa the Wakandan greeting, crossing his arms over his chest to form an ‘x’. “We got a bit of a galactic crisis that we could solve out there, but that can’t happen. So that’s why we need you.”

“Could you be any vaguer?” asked Jennifer.

“He likes being vague,” said Hill.

Carol chuckled. She helped the young Skrull forward with Talos and Soren immediately dropping to one knee with their heads lowered. The Avengers didn’t know why until Carol spoke up, finally giving them the information they needed. “Everyone, this is Dorrek VIII, the crowned Prince of the Skrull Empire,” said Carol. “At least, what remains of it. We’ve been working on protecting him from the Kree Empire, but we’ve run into several problems.”

“From the Kree?” asked Bruce. “I don’t know much about them, but when I was on Sakaar, I heard nothing but nasty things about them.”

“The Kree are bad, but they’re not the only problem,” said Fury. “You see, Prince Dorrek is only half-Skrull. The other half is Kree.”

“Oh!” said Bruce.

Peter raised his hand. “That means what exactly?”

Wanda crossed her arms over her chest. “That means he’s hated by both empires. Am I right?”

“Super right,” said Hill.

Carol moved her hand away from Dorrek. Dorrek gulped as he went over towards Talos and Soren who had since got back on their feet. He kept close to the other Skrulls, while remaining silent.

“There’s a radical faction of Skrulls who want Dorrek dead,” said Carol. “Most Skrulls are willing to accept Dorrek as their leader as his mother, Anelle, was their princess and his grandfather, Dorrek VII was the previous emperor, but the radicals are unwilling to accept his Kree blood. Even though his other mother was my mentor, Mar-Vell, who sacrificed herself to help the Skrull, the radicals won’t accept him and are too big of a threat to ignore, and we can’t keep him hidden out there while protecting him from the Kree too. The Kree want to study and weaponize him to use to eliminate the Skrulls. That’s why we brought him to Earth.”

“You want Earth’s mightiest heroes to protect an alien prince from two warring space empires?” asked Bucky.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” said Fury.

Sam smirked. “We got this covered. We can keep Prince Dorrek safe.”

Dorrek looked over towards Sam and smiled. The first bit of joy he’s shown on Earth. “Thank you,” he said, softly.

Sam nodded. Meanwhile, Wanda went over towards Dorrek and introduced herself. “Why don’t you come inside our home, Prince Dorrek. We’ve brought our children with us. They can keep you company while we figure out the best way to keep you safe.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Dorrek went with Wanda, leaving the others behind as they discussed his security.

*~*

The kids were sprawled out on the couch with the TV onto some kid’s movie that Morgan wanted to watch. And being that she was Morgan, none of them would vote against anything she wanted to watch.

Surprisingly, things were pretty quiet too as Tommy got over the whole not having costumes and codenames deal.

They had pizza boxes scattered across the table and floor with a few sodas (and juice boxes for Morgan) there whenever they got thirsty. The place while messy was not as chaotic as it could’ve been as Cassie ran a tight ship.

Wanda walked into this scene with Prince Dorrek in tow. They watched this mess with Dorrek not sure what to think, while Wanda rolled her eyes.

“At least they’re not fighting,” Wanda whispered.

Dorrek raised a brow, but couldn’t give much input as they took notice of him.

“Whoa!” said Tommy. “Is that a Skrull!”

The other kids gasped as they stared at Prince Dorrek. It was mildly uncomfortable for him as he hadn’t felt so many foreign eyes on him for so long as he only spent time around other Skrulls at the refuge station.

Prince Dorrek backed away, while Wanda called on everyone to behave.

“This is Prince Dorrek,” said Wanda. She gave a brief rundown of what she knew about him and demanded that everyone acted on their best behavior. “We’re going to be busy for a while longer. You should probably expect to spend the night here so get comfortable. And, again, act on your best behavior. Especially you, Thomas!”

Tommy feigned innocence, while the others laughed.

Wanda went back outside to discuss Dorrek’s situation with the other Avengers.

Meanwhile, Eli jumped from the couch and went over towards Dorrek. He extended a hand out to the alien prince who understood the custom of a handshake. “I’m Eli Bradley. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Prince Dorrek,” he said. “I look forward to getting to know you. But if you’d excuse me, since we’re going to be here for a while, I’m going to change into something more comfortable.”

Dorrek chuckled. “The pleasure is mine, Eli. And please, go ahead and change. I wouldn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

The others went over to Dorrek, while Eli took off briefly. They all took the time to greet him, getting the boring introductions out of the way. Dorrek greeted them all, politely, as was expected of a prince.

However, Dorrek lost a bit of composure when he came face to face with Billy.

Billy also stumbled as he approached Dorrek. As bizarre as anyone else would find it, Billy fought his body’s urge to blush as he took Dorrek’s hand. Dorrek bore a large smile on his face, a grin he did not show any of the others, as the two touched. Their hearts beating a little quicker as they came into contact.

The moment came to a crashing halt though because of Morgan.

“You look like a troll,” said Morgan.

Dorrek pulled his hand away from Billy as he looked over towards Morgan. “A troll?”

“Morgan!” said Cassie. “That’s not polite. I’m so sorry, Prince Dorrek.” Cassie dragged Morgan away, taking her back to the couch to watch the movie since the kid was too blunt for her own good.

“What’s a troll?” asked Dorrek.

Tommy rubbed his chin. “They’re these short, ugly beings with pointy ears and teeth. I don’t think they’re green though.”

Dorrek stepped back. “Oh.”

“Our apologies, Prince Dorrek,” said Kate. “Little Earth kids don’t have the best social filter. They tend not to think before they speak.”

“It’s fine,” Dorrek said. “It’s fine.”

Clearly it wasn’t, but not much else could be said on the subject. Kate walked over to the couch with Tommy behind her. Neither one knew how to make up for what Morgan said or how to turn the tide of such an awkward situation.

Billy stayed behind though. He kept close to Dorrek. He scratched his wrist a little as he looked at the floor, his lips curled inward before he spoke. “Um...are you hungry or thirsty, Prince Dorrek. We have plenty here. Have you tried pizza?” asked Billy. “Is there even pizza in space?”

Dorrek smiled at Billy. He didn’t know how, but Billy’s voice was enough to distract him from what Morgan called him. “No. I haven’t,” he said, softly. “Ms. Carol told me about it though. She called it one of the most delicious foods Earth has to offer.”

“She’s totally right!” Billy said, a bit too loudly. “Come on, you should try some.” Out of instinct, he grabbed onto Dorrek’s hand and pulled him to the kitchen. Billy didn’t think about manners or how Dorrek might interpret such an act as Billy was so used to grabbing Tommy’s hand or having Tommy grab his hand. It wasn’t until they were in the kitchen that his brain kicked in and he released Dorrek’s hand. “Oh! I’m sorry, Prince Dorrek. That was so rude of me.”

“No!” Dorrek said, immediately. His hand outreached to touch Billy’s arm. “It’s fine. It really is.”

Billy smiled. “Okay. Um...I’ll fix you a plate.” Billy backed away as he grabbed several different slices of pizza. “I hope you’re not allergic to anything, Prince Dorrek. The last thing we’d want to do is accidentally kill you when we’re supposed to protect you.”

“I’ll be fine. Skrulls’ stomachs are stronger than humans,” said Dorrek. “And please, Billy, you can just call me Dorrek.”

Billy smiled again as he passed the plate of pizza over. “Okay, Dorrek.” A smile also began to spread across Dorrek’s face. The two locked eyes for a moment until Dorrek broke their eye contact to take a bite from the pizza. Billy went to grab a slice for himself. “So what’s the verdict, Dorrek? Was Captain Marvel telling you the truth or did she overhype it?”

Dorrek’s eyes lit up as he spoke, “This is amazing!”

*~*

“Then we’re in agreement on the best solution for protecting Prince Dorrek?” Carol looked to all the Avengers for support as she knew Fury, Hill, Talos, and Soren already signed off on the plan.

There was no disagreement. The best way to keep Dorrek safe was to keep him at the compound for the time being until they could find better means to relocate him.

“We’ll need a longer-term solution though.” Peter scratched his head. “It’s not like he’s just a prince, he’s a person too. He’s not going to want to be cooped up inside forever.”

“Yeah. How old is he anyway?” asked Scott.

Talos hummed as he shook his head. “About forty in Skrull years,” he said, “but we age slower than humans since we live a lot longer.”

Sam shrugged. “Okay then what does that make him in human years?”

“About eighteen,” said Soren.

“Great, another teenager,” said Bruce. “Well, good luck with that gang. I’m too old to be babysitting. Call me if you need science help or my muscles.”

Jennifer chuckled. “I guess that means I’m watching these kids alone.”

“Sorry, Jen,” said Bucky.

Wanda also apologized since she would be leaving her sons here too. “I’ll try to find Stephen as quickly as I can. Then I’ll take my boys home so you won’t have to deal with them for too long.”

“I’m not too worried about them,” said Jennifer. “Well, at least not with Billy. He knows how to behave. And if Tommy gets out of line then I’ll Hulk out and put him in his place.”

“Feel free to do just that,” said Wanda.

“Well, if this meeting is adjourned then,” said Peter, “I got a vacation to pack for! See y’all at the next jamboree!”

“I’ll give you a ride back to Queens, Pete,” said Rhodey. “I gotta get back to base anyways.”

Peter activated his Iron Spider armor and grabbed onto Rhodey as he recalled his War Machine armor. The two flew off, while the rest started to make their travel plans too.

Considering that Dorrek was staying in the base, Wanda thought it was best to leave Tommy and Billy there to keep him company as she went after Strange. Sam agreed to leave Eli behind too, while Clint and Scott were leaving it up to Kate and Cassie if they wanted to stay behind.

Everyone went back inside to share their plans with the kids and were pleasantly surprised to see that things hadn’t devolved into a shit show while they were gone.

Most of all, Carol, Fury, and Hill were surprised to see so many kids running around in the first place. The last time they were on Earth only Cassie and Morgan were around. Now, there were enough older kids to start a pop group or a junior team of heroes.

That was enough to get the gears turning in Fury’s head. He stepped over to T’Challa and Okoye, pulling them away from the others for a moment.

Pepper went over to the living room as pretty much everyone was there. The movie that Morgan picked was still playing, but she was half-asleep now, sleeping between Cassie and Tommy. “I hope she didn’t cause too much trouble.” Pepper picked Morgan up, groaning briefly as Morgan felt heavier than she remembered.

“She was great,” said Cassie.

“Yeah, super great,” said Tommy, “even after she called the space prince a troll.”

Pepper’s jaw dropped. She quickly apologized to Dorrek who was still in the kitchen with Billy. The two were too busy talking and eating to really notice the horrified look on Pepper’s face. Dorrek caught the apology though and muttered it wasn’t a big deal as he went back to eating pizza.

Carol went over to the kitchen, chuckling as she saw Dorrek devour a slice. “Wait until you discover chicken and waffles.” She took a seat next to Dorrek. She grabbed a slice for herself. “Alright, kid, I’m leaving you with the Avengers. I’m heading back out to space with Fury and Hill to guide the other refugees here. Talos and Soren are coming with us too.”

“How long will you be gone?” asked Dorrek.

“A month, tops,” said Carol. She moaned as she took a bite of pizza. “Uh! How I’ve missed you, pizza. There’s nothing in the universe that compares to your cheesy deliciousness.”

“Want a box to go, Captain?” asked Billy.

Carol raised an eyebrow. She knew about Billy and Tommy’s weird, magical situation. It was weirder though seeing a full-grown kid that bore such a striking resemblance to Wanda. “I would take you up on that offer, but then I’d have to share with everyone else, and I really don’t want to do that.”

Wanda came into the kitchen too. She went over to Billy, but also made her voice known to Tommy as she called his name. “I’m leaving to find Strange to help us with Prince Dorrek. You two are staying here with him until I get back. Now, do behave. William, you have my permission to do whatever it takes to keep your brother from tormenting everyone.”

  
“Sweet!” said Billy.

“Why do you gotta treat me like the evil twin?” said Tommy.

“Because you’re exactly like your Uncle Pietro who couldn’t be left unsupervised for a minute without creating chaos.”

Tommy smirked. It was true that he did enjoy creating chaos.

Meanwhile, Scott took a seat next to Cassie on the sofa. “If you want, you can stay here too. Until we make proper arrangements for Dorrek, he’s staying at the compound and I’m sure he’d appreciate all the company he can get.”

“I can do that!” said Cassie. “You got nothing to worry about, dad.”

“I know I don’t.” Scott kissed her forehead. “Love you, Peanut.”

“Love you too.”

Clint took the last slice of pizza from the box on the table as he took a seat next to Kate. “How about you, girlie. Want to stick around here or come back to the farm?”

Kate smirked. “As much as I love your family, Clint, I’ll stay here. I have a feeling things will get very interesting here.”

“Good call.”

Sam patted Eli on the shoulder. “You’re gonna stick around here too, soldier. We need someone else who can keep all these kids in line around.”

“Understood,” said Eli.

Jennifer laughed. “There won’t be any mischief here. I’ll keep things in order. And if these kids don’t want to adhere to my court then they can deal with the angry, green girl.”

Dorrek raised his brow. Although without any eyebrow hair, it wasn’t quite clear he was doing so. “The green girl?”

“She’s a Hulk,” said Billy. “She-Hulk to be exact.”

“Oh!”

*~*

Billy stood outside of Dorrek’s bedroom door for about two minutes before finally rustling up the courage to knock. He kept it a gentle knock. Not too loud. And not too repetitive. He wanted his knock to come out as friendly as possible.

He realized how stupid it was to interpret a knock as friendly or not, but there he was thinking it.

A moment passed before Dorrek opened the door. He changed out of his bodysuit and into the clothes they left synthesized almost instantly thanks to all the Stark tech that powered the compound. He still looked like a Skrull, but was clothed in a rather simply in a t-shirt and sweatpants. It certainly wasn’t something one would expect an alien prince to wear.

“Hello,” Dorrek said, softly. “Is there anything you need, Billy?”

“Oh, no!” Billy stammered for a moment as he went on about things in the compound before he took a deep sigh. “What I mean to say is that if you need anything then just let me know. My room is right next door.”

“Great!” Dorrek’s voice boomed a little too loudly. He even surprised himself and he noticed Billy blush. “Ah. I mean cool. That’s good to know.”

Billy curled his lips, holding back a smile. “Cool. Also, we’re planning a proper ‘Welcome to Earth’ party for you for tomorrow. It’s probably going to turn into a slumber party and you should totally expect to see a lot of stupid stuff happen.”

Dorrek nodded. “Interesting. What’s a slumber party?”

“Um...it’s a bit of an Earth custom where kids or teenagers get together, staying over at somebody’s place for the night where they spend most of the night eating food, watching movies, playing games, and other things. It also works as a ‘get to know each other’ party since none of us actually know each other. Except for Tommy and me, obviously, none of us have met until tonight.”

“So we’re all strangers. That makes me feel a little better. I’m not breaking into some long term friendships.”

Billy chuckled. “No, we’re all starting from scratch. That’s why Cassie thought a slumber party would be a good idea. And if we’re lucky then we can convince Jen to let us go to town so you can get a better look at New York outside of the compound.”

“Great. That sounds like fun.” Dorrek yawned. “Well...I better get some rest. Space travel is pretty exhausting.”

“Of course. Goodnight. Sleep tight.”

Dorrek muttered a goodnight too before going back into his bedroom and closed the door.

Billy shook his head. He couldn’t believe that he just said: “sleep tight.”

Snickering from around the corner made Billy glare as he found Tommy leaning against his doorway.

Tommy changed into his sleep clothes too. His hair was mildly wet since he got out of the shower only a few minutes ago. “That was the most pathetic, rom-com scene I’ve ever seen. And I swear to Thor that if you do that giggling/too shy to talk thing from every rom-com, I will hurl all over you.”

“You’re an ass.” Billy made his way into his bedroom.

“Maybe. But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re crushing on an alien boy,” said Tommy. “And he has a crush on you too.”

Billy spun around. “You think he has a crush on me.”

Tommy covered his mouth to keep his laughter from waking everyone in the compound. “Oh god! You do have a crush on him. Dude, you just met the guy. What is this insta-love b.s.? No, does this mean you have a crush on Eli too? Is this going to turn into a love triangle like what happens in all the stupid books you read?”

“Goodnight, Thomas.” Billy went to slam the door even as Tommy kept trying to hammer him with questions and threatened to phase through the wall to harass him some more.

Billy pressed his back to the door while Tommy kept badgering him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “TommyGoToSleep. TommyGoToSleep. TommyGoToSleep.”

“That’s cheating!” Tommy yelled while yawning. “You know you’re not supposed to use your powers like that. Fuck it. I’m tired. Night, gay boy.”

Billy smirked as he won this match.

*~*

A starship hovered over Earth’s orbit with its occupants watching closely as another ship finally left.

Inside, a group of six turned to their captain as his yellow eyes buzzed with rage and joy at the same time. They all wore similar black and green uniforms that bore a star at its center. They were the Starforce, the elite arm of the Kree Empire.

“What would you have us do now, sir?”

Yon-Rogg shifted in his chair and smiled. “Danvers is gone now. Set course for the surface. We find the boy then we grab him so that we can finally eradicate what’s left of the Skrulls. For the glory of the Kree Empire!”

“For the glory of the Kree!”

The starship’s engine roared as the pilot flew them towards the planet.


	2. Sit Next to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy, y'all! Well, I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed the first chapter. I hope you like the second chapter even more! Nobody's Sidekicks is a five-chapter story that is my interpretation of a hypothetical first Young Avengers film. I have two other Young Avengers stories planned with the fourth part being an Avengers/Young Avengers crossover. This series adopts several comic storylines, and those of you who are Young Avengers fans I'm sure have already noticed that Nobody's Sidekicks adopts elements of the "Sidekicks" and "Family Matters" arcs. I plan on posting weekly, but we'll see how that goes as I'm in the middle of writing my dissertation, writing a book, and writing another fan fic on here. So I hope y'all enjoy this wild ride!

Chapter 2 - Sit Next to Me

The ground at the outdoor, archery field was still moist from a morning rain shower.

Kate drew the bowstring back, keeping the arrow perfectly steady as she set her eyes on the target. She centered her vision and maintained a perfect stance then released the arrow. It sailed across the range and struck the bullseye.

She cracked her knuckles before reaching for another arrow. She took a deep breath before realigning herself. She fired another arrow that struck the target perfectly in the center but didn’t stop there. She performed a quickdraw as she fired three arrows in a row without making much movement.

Each arrow made its mark as Kate hit the board perfectly. She smiled and went to reach for another arrow from her quiver when she heard applause.

“That was so cool!”

Cassie stood behind Kate, still dressed in her flannel pajamas, keeping enough space for a respectful distance. She was all smiles as she watched Kate train. “You totally deserve to be called Hawkeye.”

Kate slid the quiver from her shoulder. “Thanks. Clint seems to think so too.”

“So how long have you been training? Were you working with Clint during the Snap?”

“Nah. I didn’t meet Clint until after the Blip.” Kate left her quiver and bow on the ground. She went over to Cassie and curled her lips inward. “Have you practiced archery before?”

“Never.”

“Want to learn?”

Cassie enthusiastically nodded. She ran over to Kate who passed the quiver and arrow to her. Cassie was shaky as she took the bow and had Kate instruct her how to properly hold a bow. It took a while for Cassie to get a handle on holding the bow and an arrow at the same time.

After a few tries, Cassie picked up on the coordination to hold the two properly. Kate adjusted Cassie’s body to where she could properly fire an arrow. 

“Okay, so aim for the target before you shoot.” Kate readjusted Cassie’s arm just slightly then started to back away.

Cassie released the arrow, but she didn’t pack enough strength to make the arrow go far. The arrow fell about midway to the target with Cassie groaning at her failure.

Kate chuckled as she ran to grab the arrow to make sure it didn’t go to waste. “Don’t sweat it. You’re not going to get it on your first. Let’s try again.” Kate set Cassie up once more. Cassie gulped as she raised the bow back up with the arrow next to her face. “Remember to keep your grip relaxed. And let your fingers slip.”

“Got it.” Cassie took a deep breath then did as Kate instructed.

This time the arrow actually made it all the way to the target. While Cassie didn’t have Kate’s accuracy, she did manage to strike the board, although just barely.

Cassie screamed with a smile spreading across her face. “I did it!” She dropped the bow then threw her arms around Kate, pulling her into a hug. “I did it! You’re the best teacher, Kate!”

Kate flipped as she didn’t know what to do with her arms as Cassie hugged tighter. She was left frozen in place which Cassie soon noticed.

“I take it you’re not a hugger?” asked Cassie.

“It’s not that. I’m just not used to it. My family isn’t the most affectionate bunch.” Kate picked her gear up before either one could accidentally step on any of it. She made her way to the target board with Cassie following closely behind her. “After my mom died, my dad and older sister got really distant.”

Cassie frowned. “What about with your friends? Or are you not close like that?”

Kate tugged an arrow out of the board. “I don’t really have any friends. Aside from Clint and his family.”

“Well, I’m fixing that!” Cassie went over to help pull the arrow out of the board. She playfully bumped into Kate with a smile spread across her face. “I’m always looking for new friends. After I lost my dad when he got stuck in the Quantum Realm and half the kids I knew got lost in the Snap...I learned to really appreciate people. And...if you’re cool with it, Kate, I’d like to be your friend. Especially since you’re this super badass archer!”

Kate brushed a stray strand of hair back and smiled. “You know what, I’d like that.”

“Yeah?” Cassie helped Kate put the arrows back into the quiver. “Awesome! We should totally start a superhero girl squad!”

“Okay. Do you have any skills I should know about, Cas?”

“Well, don’t tell anyone yet, especially Tommy, but I totally convince my dad and Hope to get Hank to make me a supersuit of my own.”

Kate slung her bow over her shoulder. “So you’re going to become Ant-Girl?”

“I haven’t thought of a name yet,” said Cassie, “but I’m personally leaning towards Stature.”

“Sweet.”

They giggled as they made their way back into Avengers’ Compound. They found that everyone else was up and active with the most delicious smells coming from the kitchen. Of course, everyone was in the kitchen, working on breakfast.

Jennifer was at the stove, while Eli was whisking something in a bowl. Billy was busy chopping up fruit and Tommy was setting up the table as Dorrek was left alone to watch.

Cassie and Kate hung onto each other, smiling as they saw this picturesque moment.

“What are we having, Ms. Jennifer?” asked Cassie.

“A welcome feast for Prince Dorrek. And please, you kids can just call me Jen.” She turned away from the stove. “Girls, can you help Tommy with-”

A blur of green energy flickered across the kitchen as Tommy moved from the table to the counter where he began to pick at the strawberries that Billy was cutting. “Already done.” Tommy looked over to the girls and winked at them. “So I say I’m done helping for the day.”

Billy slapped Tommy’s hand before he could steal more fruit. “Help me cut, Speedy. Or go sit at the table.”

Tommy stuck his tongue out. He leaned in to whisper something at Billy, which made Billy’s face turn red before Tommy went over to the table.

Since Tommy bailed, Cassie went over to help Billy with the fruit as Kate went to the fridge to get some orange juice.

It took a while, but their breakfast feast was amazing. It truly was a continental meal as they had a mountain of eggs, sausage, toast, waffles, and fruit in front of them.

They ate together and chatted as they took the time to get to know each other better. They appeared at ease as good food and good conversation made everyone lower their guard, especially Dorrek.

Dorrek asked Billy to pass the orange juice so he could serve himself his third glass. Billy did better than that as he wiggled his index finger. Blue light flickered around the pitcher and floated across the table as Billy used magic to refill Dorrek’s glass.

“Impressive,” said Dorrek as Billy lowered the pitcher back to the table.

Billy smiled. “Thanks.”

Tommy rolled his eyes as he grabbed another piece of toast. “What’s on the agenda for today? Do we still have permission to get stuff for the slumber party, Warden Walters?”

Jen raised her cup of coffee to her face. “Keep scratching at my patience, little boy, and you’ll meet the green woman.” She took a small sip before returning to her plate of waffles. “I’ll let y’all take a trip into town. But I swear if you start trouble-”

“I’ll make sure everyone is on their best behavior, Ms. Walters,” said Eli.

“I’m sure you will, Eli.” Jen took a bite of her waffles. “I guess I should get a car ready for you.”

Billy shook his head. “Actually, I can portal us into town. I’ve been practicing using a Sling Ring with Doctor Strange and I’m pretty good at it now.”

Tommy shrugged. “He is. We snuck out of the house a dozen times already.”

“Cool!” said Cassie.

Jen raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that last part otherwise I’d have to tell your mother. Then Dorrek and I will wait here.”

Dorrek drank his orange juice. “Oh, I thought I could go into town with them too.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, sweetie,” said Jen. “Your safety is our top priority. We have to assume that there are Kree and Skrull spies on Earth.”

Kate leaned onto the table. “But he’s a Skrull too right? So nobody should be able to recognize him if he shapeshifts. And it’s not like the Kree and Skrull know about us. It’s not like he’d be running around with someone instantly recognizable.”

Jen sighed as she felt the eyes of a table full of teenagers on her. “I guess if Dorrek stays in disguise then it’ll be fine. But I need you all to be on guard. And if something happens, you better portal back here immediately!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

*~*

Tommy zipped up his sweater as he made his way to the living room where everyone else was waiting to portal into town.

Everyone was ready to go but there was still a big, green problem.

Dorrek sat on the couch and was dressed to leave but didn’t have his disguise ready. He stared at the TV, scrolling through each channel as he paid close attention to everyone that he saw.

“Just pick a look, bro,” said Eli.

“I will. I will.” Dorrek kept changing the channel without pausing for longer than a few seconds.

Tommy leaned over the couch next to Kate. “What’s taking so long?”

Kate shrugged. “Looks like Dorrek doesn’t know what to look like.”

“Got it!”

Dorrek stood up and took a deep breath. His skin shifted as did his muscle mass as he took on a leaner form than the thicker one they were used to seeing.

“Whoa!” said Cassie and Billy.

Even Tommy was taken back, as he saw the look Dorrek decided to take.

Dorrek’s Skrull features were replaced with something human. He had smooth, bronze skin with piercing hazel eyes. He had wavy, blond hair that went below his ears, contrasting against his dark eyebrows, and there was just a little bit of dark-stubble growing on his face. He looked just enough like a teenager but was far from being ordinary as he had to pick a form that made him look drop-dead gorgeous.

“How do I look?”

“Pretty hot,” Eli blurted out. 

In a human form, it was clear to see a blush spread across Dorrek’s face as what Eli said got them all by surprise. But they all agreed that Dorrek looked hot. Even as he dressed rather plainly since he borrowed Eli's clothes, Dorrek looked good.

Jen laughed at them as she handed a stack of cash to Kate. “Alright, behave, all of you. And if something happens, and I do mean anything bad, then portal your asses back here, immediately!”

“We will,” said Kate.

“Oh!” Cassie went up to Dorrek and pointed at him. “Since you got a new look, we should give you an Earth name! If there are Skrull and Kree looking for you then we can’t go around calling you Dorrek.”

“Good point!” Eli crossed his arms over his chest. “So what should we call you?”

Dorrek shrugged. “I don’t know any Earth names aside from yours.”

Tommy bit his lip than a lightbulb went off in his head. “Teddy! We’ll call you, Teddy. And your last name will be Altman.”

“Teddy Altman?” Billy smiled. “I knew you were the one watching Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix!”

“Shush!”

Dorrek nodded. “Teddy Altman...Teddy. I like the sound of that. Call me Teddy from now on.”

Cassie chuckled. “Well, you do look like a teddy bear. Right, Billy?”

Billy started to cough loudly as he fiddled with the Sling Ring. “Um...let’s go! We’re wasting daylight here, people.” Before anyone could say anything else, Billy raised his hands to channel his magic into opening a portal. He kept one hand steady while swinging the other hand around until a band of orange sparks ignited into a circle with the image of an alleyway appearing.

There was no hesitation amongst any of them as they started to jump through the portal with Billy going in last as it closed behind him.

*~*

Outside and far away from the compound now, they appeared in an alleyway in the middle of town. They could spot a grocery store across from the street, which was perfect as Billy got them close enough without raising any suspicions.

“Let’s see, what do we need?” Cassie took her phone out as she started to make a list while they crossed the street. She pieced together something as she listed everything aloud to get their feedback. “We need sweets, salty stuff and lost of drinks.”

“Don’t you have all of that at the compound?” asked Teddy.

“Yes, but we need better stuff that’s just for the party!”

They walked across the parking lot and into the grocery store. Eli, Kate, and Tommy grabbed carts for them as they decided midway to split up to get everything that they needed.

Cassie wrapped her arm around Tommy as she pointed over towards the snack aisle. “Let’s go, Team Sugar!”

“He doesn’t need any more sugar,” said Billy. “He’s already bouncing off the walls.”

“Try and stop me from eating more, punk!” Tommy pushed the cart with Cassie.

Kate rolled her eyes as she grabbed Billy’s sleeve and took him to the chips’ aisle.

Eli pushed the cart next to Teddy. “I guess that makes us the drink squad. You said you have a strong stomach, right? Strong enough to handle all our sugary, Earth drinks?”

“Ms. Carol did warn me you, Earthlings, put sugar in everything.”

“We truly do.”

They wandered into the soda aisle. Eli began to list all the potential options of drinks they could get, while also mentioning some of his favorites. He needed to describe them too since Teddy had no concept of most Earth drinks.

Teddy pointed at the grape soda. “I’d like to try that one.”

Eli resisted the urge to snicker. He grabbed a twelve-pack and put it into the cart. “We should try root beer too. Cassie will probably get some ice cream. She strikes me as a root beer float kind of girl.”

“You seem to have a good read on people.”

Eli grabbed the twelve-pack of root better. “I’m pretty observant.” 

Teddy grabbed a case of cherry soda since it sounded tasty to him. “Is that your superpower?”

Eli chuckled. “No, it’s just a survival mechanism for people who look like me. You should learn to develop one too if you’re going to walk around America with that skin tone.” Eli leaned against the cart as he watched Teddy add the next case to their ever-growing pile. “As for my powers. The government tried to replicate the super-soldier formula that created Captain America, Steve Rogers. They used a bunch of men like my grandfather for the experiment. He was the only one that got powers out of it, although, not to the scale of Rogers. And they weren’t as stable in him so it hasn’t aged well in him.”

“And you inherited those powers?”

“Not exactly. They weren’t exactly strong enough to be passed on genetically. My parents and I got into a bad accident a few years back. And my grandfather has my blood type so they used his blood for the transfusion, but nobody knew that the transfusion would cause me to develop his powers.”

“Fury and Hill told me about Steve Rogers. Do you have powers like his than? But just not to his scale?”

Eli nodded.

Teddy leaned against the cart. “That means you’re pretty tough.”

“I suppose you can say that.”

Teddy smiled. “Well, since we’re probably going to be stuck at the compound for a long time, would you care to be my sparring partner? Nobody at the refuge station would take fighting me seriously except for Ms. Carol.”

Eli grabbed a case of orange soda. “A sparring partner sounds good. It would be nice to fight someone who won’t automatically kick my ass like Wilson and Barnes.”

“Should we start first thing tomorrow?”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

*~*

In the middle of the store, Billy and Kate pushed the cart into the salty snacks’ aisle to find plenty of food for tonight. Kate grabbed a jumbo-sized box of popcorn and threw it into the cart.

“What else do you want?” asked Kate. “Or what do you think the others will like?”

Billy grabbed a bag of spicy chips. “These are Tommy’s favorite. Um...Cassie strikes me as a cool ranch girl, and Eli, I think he’d like the lime-flavored ones.”

Kate leaned against the cart as Billy added a mountain of chips into the cart. “Either you’re a very good guesser, or you’re using your witchy powers to read people’s minds.”

Billy went for a bag of Cheetos next and handed them over to Kate. “Or I stalked you guys on social media last night to find out more about you.”

“Ah, so a twenty-first-century detective.” Kate smiled. “Oddly enough that makes you less creepy. Clint told me what your mom can do and since you inherited her powers-”

Billy tossed the bag into the cart. “You think that means I’ll magically torment you with your deepest, darkest fears while destroying an Infinity Stone? Maybe I can do that, but I haven’t exactly had a reason to test the limits of my powers. I’m still learning how to use them properly.”

“What about Tommy? Is he just fast or is he mystical like you?”

“Just fast. But he can also mess with things on a molecular level.”

Kate raised her eyebrows. “And that means?”

“So far it means that he can accelerate molecules to the point of combustion.”

“Not only is he a speedster, but he can blow stuff up.” Kate winced. “That’s terrifying considering that he’s…handful.”

Billy chuckled. “That’s a polite way to say he’s obnoxious.”

“I didn’t want to risk upsetting you since he’s your brother and it’s not like I know you guys that well.”

“It's okay. I appreciate your manners.” Billy went back to look at the wall of chips. “I love my brother, but he drives me crazy too. I do my best to keep him from getting on everyone else’s bad side, but it doesn’t always work.” He grabbed a bag of chex mix since he knew Jen liked those ones then he grabbed a bag of salt and vinegar chips. “Do you think Dor...Teddy would like these ones?”

Kate smiled. “I’m sure he’d like anything you give him. It’s kinda obvious that he likes you. And that you like him back.”

Billy dropped both bags. He then scrambled to pick them up and add them to the cart, while mumbling incoherently.

“Easy, Billy,” said Kate. “It’s not that big of a deal. Actually, it's cute.”

“But is it that obvious? I already blew it with Tommy.”

“Cassie and I figure it out, but I can’t say if Eli really notices or if he cares. As for Teddy, I just met the guy. He does seem just as messy and nervous as you are.”

Billy chuckled. “Great. The first guy I crush on who has a crush on me back, and he has to be an alien prince.”

“There are worse guys to fall for. And given that you’re the son of a witch, any guy that liked you back was probably going to be different. And that’s putting it nicely.”

“Fair point.” Billy pushed the cart into the next aisle. “I’m glad to have a friend like you, Kate.”

Kate ran her hand along the cart as she kept up. “You and Cassie are really pushing this friend thing. Nobody wanted to be my friend growing up, and now I have two people signing up to be my besties.”

“Is that a bad thing?” asked Billy.

“Just not used to it. But...we’ll see how it turns out.”

*~*

Cassie threw a bag of chocolate donuts into the cart with Tommy yelling at her to grab another bag. Tommy was covered in a mountain of sweets since he decided to sit inside the cart and have her push him around the store.

Cassie threw another box at Tommy when her phone started to vibrate. She checked it and smiled. “My dad wants to know how we’re all doing.”

Tommy opened one of the bags to steal a donut. “Tell him you’re grocery shopping with your boyfriend.”

“I just got my dad back after losing him in the Quantum Realm, I’m not trying to get him to ground me.” Cassie smirked as she looked at her phone then at Tommy. “Then again, scaring the shit out of him sounds fun.”

Cassie ran over to the cart and leaned next to him. “Make a stupid face.” She kissed him on the cheek and he stuck out his tongue while taking a selfie. She sent the selfie to her dad and laughed as she could only imagine his reaction. “He’s going to be pissed. I doubt he’d approve of me kissing the bad boy.”

Tommy laughed as he reached over to take a box of brownies with sprinkles. “These are Billy’s favorite.” He looked over to Cassie. “And can your dad really judge you for dating a bad boy considering that he went to prison.”

“I think that’s exactly why he’d lose his mind.” Cassie smirked at Tommy as he grabbed another box of the same brownies. “Maybe you’re not a bad boy. Bad boys wouldn’t bother to make sure they got their brother’s favorite snack.”

Tommy brought a finger to his lips. “Don’t tell anyone. Especially Billy. I have a reputation to uphold.”

Cassie laughed and grabbed some other boxes of snack cakes that she thought everyone would like. “Really? I’m pretty sure more people would like you if you didn’t act like a jerk. Street cred will only get you so far in life.”

“Grab some Twinkies too!” Tommy tilted his head back as Cassie dropped a handful of snacks on top of him. “I’ll keep the street cred. Billy can be the sweet twin.”

“Ah, I think I get it now.” Cassie started to push the cart and Tommy into the next aisle. “You act like a jerk because you need to be the tough one. Billy is the type of guy that wouldn’t hurt a fly and you. You put yourself on the front line so everyone knows better than to mess with Billy because that means they'll have to deal with you.”

Tommy fiddled with the bag of donuts and took another one out of the bag. “Maybe. Or maybe not.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “You are far more complicated than I give you credit, Mr. Maximoff.”

“Finally! Somebody who appreciates my mystique.”

“Leave him alone!” shouted Eli.

Tommy pulled himself from the cart, while Cassie looked in the direction of the drink aisle where they heard the yelling. They pushed the cart in the direction of the drink aisle where they caught a glimpse of Kate and Billy going there too.

*~*

Three, young men surrounded Eli and Teddy. These young men were white and smelled of cigarettes and cheap beer. They spent their time taunting Eli and Teddy as they started to utter racial slurs at them.

Teddy was at a loss as to why this was happening and was left standing there in silence, while Eli was too busy holding his tongue so he didn’t escalate the situation further.

“I bet you these punks are up to no good,” said one of the guys. “Maybe we should teach them a lesson so they know better than to leave the city.”

“We don’t want any trouble,” said Eli. “We’re just doing some shopping like you.”

A dark-haired man stepped up to Eli with a wicked grin on his face. “You’re not like us. You and your beaner friend don’t belong here, niー”

In an instant, Eli threw a sharp punch at the dark-haired man’s jaw and knocked him flat to the ground, while his friends hollered in surprise.

“Fuck you!” The third man in their group went over to Teddy.

Eli tried to keep Teddy away, but the other guy grabbed his arm. “Leave him alone!”

The third man shoved Teddy hard enough to push him to the ground.

Teddy fell hard. His head banged against the linoleum floor. And upon impact, he immediately reverted back to his Skrull form.

Eli whispered a curse under his breath, while the three men absolutely flipped out when they saw Teddy shapeshift. 

“What the fuck is that!” screamed one of them.

As he screamed, Billy and the others made it to the aisle to catch the tail-end of what happened. They all whispered “shit” at the same time as they ran over to prevent things from getting worse.

Cassie and Kate went to Teddy, urging him to restore his disguise. Teddy hadn’t noticed he changed back to his real face so he shifted back, but the damage was done.

“What happened?” Tommy asked Eli.

“They attacked us,” said Eli.

“What the fuck is that thing!” said one of the men, pointing at Teddy. “He’s aー”

Waves of blue energy rippled across the floor as the lights in the grocery store began to flicker on and off. This distracted everyone as they all looked back to see Billy keeping his distance.

Billy’s pupils went black, while streams of blue energy trickled down from his hands to the floor.

“The fuck,” said another one of the men. “What is he doing? Why is he looking at us like that?”

“Uh.” Tommy slowly raised his hands up. “Billy?”

Billy brought his hands together and twisted his fingers as he collected the blue energy into an orb. “ForgetWhatYouSaw. ForgetWhatYouSaw.” He spoke with an eerie voice as he stepped closer to them. “ForgetWhatYouSaw!”

Billy spread his arms apart, releasing a wave of blue energy that struck the men. They all stumbled back and blinked rapidly as they tried piecing together what happened to them. The men ignored everyone in the aisle and left, going back about their day.

With the men gone, Billy’s eyes returned to their normal shade of brown. He clung onto the cart full of salty snacks to keep him from collapsing to the ground.

Cassie slowly got back on her feet as Kate helped Teddy. “What did you just do to them?”

“Saved our asses.” Billy’s tone was harsh as sparks of blue light still trickled around him. He shook his head with the last traces of his magic fading from view. “Sorry. I...umm...I erased their memories. We’re safe, but we should pay for everything and get back to the compound.”

“I’m sorry.” Teddy looked down to the ground. “I’m sorry I got us in trouble.”

Kate squeezed onto Teddy’s forearm. “Hey, it’s not your fault. They attacked you.”

“Actually,” said Eli, “I hit first. They just came up to us and started saying a bunch of racist shit and I. Fuck! This is exactly why Sam keeps warning me about keeping my anger in check.”

“Feel guilty later.” Tommy dragged the cart of snacks and pushed the drink cart towards Eli. “Billy’s right. Let’s get the hell out of here before shit gets worse.”

They quickly went about paying for everything before they ran out of the store, while the men still wandered around the aisles in a daze. They heard whispers from other customers about hearing a fight breaking out and someone calling the cops. So they rushed out of there with even more urgency as they ran back across the street with their groceries.

They made it into the alley as they started to hear sirens.

Kate took the bags that Billy carried. “Hurry! Portal us out of here.”

“I know. I know!” Billy slid the Sling Ring back onto his left hand. He took a deep breath and began the motions of opening a portal to the compound.

Teddy frowned as he apologized again.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Stop apologizing. And get it together. We don’t say a word about what happened. As far as Jen is concerned, this field trip went on without a hitch. Got it?”

Teddy, Cassie, and Kate nodded, while Eli wouldn’t look Tommy or anyone else in the eye.

“Got it?” Tommy said, directly to Eli this time.

Eli finally looked up. “Understood.”

Billy stepped back as the portal was open. “Hurry!” He waved everyone into the portal as the sounds of police sirens got louder. They ran into the portal with Billy stepping in last and the portal closed behind him.

The portal opened in the middle of the kitchen.

Jen sat at the table with a cup of coffee in front of her and a book in hand. She looked up as they appeared in the kitchen with all their bags of groceries. “Hey! That was faster than I expected. Looks like everything went well.”

“Yeah!” Cassie blurted out. “Everything was fine. No drama at all.” She chuckled a little with Kate whispering at her to dial it back.

Jen didn’t really take the time to question them as she already had her eyes back on the book.

*~*

“Are you sure that you don’t remember anything?”

A cop scribbled across a notepad, while taking down a statement from the young man that shoved Teddy. Although, thanks to Billy’s spell, the young man had no memory of attacking Teddy or of what happened in the soda aisle.

The young man shook his head. “No, officer. I can’t remember a thing. I just argued with some kids then I was in the meat section.”

The cop closed the notepad. “Alright. You can go, kid.”

The cop grumbled underneath his breath as the young man ran away to his buddies as they all left the store. But as the cop was about to leave in disappointment, his handheld receiver went off with his partner telling him to come into the security room.

He went into security to find his partner and one of the grocery store employees already inside. The employee sat at a desk, fiddling with the computer as his partner mentioned that they had a video of the incident.

“This is my partner, Officer Jones,” said the other cop to the employee. “Please, show him the video you found.”

“Sure. As I was telling Officer Williams,” said the employee, “I found something weird on the security cams around the same time a customer called nine-one-one. Check it out.”

He played the video with the computer showing Eli and Teddy in the soda aisle with the young men that Officer Jones interviewed surrounding them.

Eli punched one while another shoved Teddy. They all gasped when they showed Teddy shift into his Skrull form as their friends stormed into the aisle.

Officer Jones and Officer Williams looked closely at Teddy before they caught sight of Billy using his magic. The video went fuzzy for a moment only for Teddy to appear like an Earthling once more and leaving aisle with his friends, while the three men wandered off.

“Isn’t that super weird?” asked the employee. “There was this weird thing that happened a few years back where some people started to get superpowers from taking contaminated fish oil but others died. We had to dispose of our stock since then. Do you think that what happened with those kids has anything to do with that?”

“Maybe.” Officer Williams grabbed a small, silver device that slightly resembled a pistol. He pulled the trigger and shot the employee in the back of the head with a laser blast.

The employee’s body slumped forward as blood poured from an open wound.

Officer Jones rolled his eyes as his appearance changed. He reverted into his Skrull form while pulling what appeared to be a USB-stick from his pocket. “Idiot. What part of we’re working undercover can’t you understand?”

Officer Williams reverted to Skrull form too. “I’m making sure he can’t rat us out to anyone. Now hurry up and copy the video so we can report back to Commander Kl’rt.”

“Don’t rush me.” Officer Jones downloaded the video into the USB-stick before erasing the data from the computer. “We found Dorrek, but what of those kids with him? That one boy...what did he do?”

“Bah! Terran magic.” Officer Williams opened the door as they both shifted back into their Earthling identities. “Those Terrans won’t stop us from killing the abomination. Besides, how difficult can it be to kill a few kids?”

Officer Jones shook his head. “You’re going to get yourself killed if you’re not careful.”

The Skrulls left the grocery store and began to make their report to their commander that they could finally confirm with certainty that the abomination, Prince Dorrek, was on Earth.

*~*

As they promised, they kept the fight at the grocery store a secret from Jen so as not to get them in any trouble. And miraculously, they managed to play it cool so she didn’t appear to suspect anything.

The slumber party played out far better than their trip into town.

Mountains of junk food covered the table as they converted the living room into their teen hangout. Jen kept her distance from them since she didn’t have the tolerance to put up with their hormones or the copious amounts of junk food that they were about to consume. She just took whatever sounded tasty to her then went off into her room to have a quiet evening to herself. Or at least as quiet as could be expected.

It was a good thing that the bedrooms were soundproof. Otherwise, the She-Hulk might come out and play.

Cassie sat on the couch with Kate between her legs as she braided her hair. “I love how smooth your hair is, Kate. Mine is a wavy mess. Back in San Francisco, if I step outside for two seconds then it turns into a frizzy mess.”

Kate closed her eyes as she enjoyed the beauty session. “Oh stop, Cassie. Your hair is just fine.”

Cassie smiled. She kept working on Kate’s braids. “Hey, Billy. Can you pass me the brownies you like that Tommy got for you?”

A wide grin formed on Billy’s face as he grabbed the box of brownies with sprinkles. He passed a pack over to Cassie, while looking at Tommy. “I thought it was Cassie who wanted these, but you remembered that they’re my favorite.”

Tommy grabbed a handful of popcorn and ignored Billy as he focused on the horror movie that he was watching with Eli and Teddy.

Teddy reverted back to his Skrull form, while he watched the movie. The killers started to stab each other while the girl screamed. “So they’re motive to kill everyone because that guy’s dad had an affair with his girlfriend’s mom? But why are they killing everyone else if they already murdered her mom?”

“It’s not a brilliant motive,” said Eli before taking a sip of cherry soda. “White boys have to go above and beyond when they kill people.”

“Speaking of white boys.” Tommy rolled over towards the edge of the couch to get closer to Eli so as not to risk the possibility that Jen might hear them from her bedroom. “What made you hit those guys?”

Eli scooted closer. “They came up and started to harass us. They said a bunch of racist shit than one of them tried to use the n-word so I punched him.” 

“Oh. Fucker got what he deserved.” Tommy rolled back into a comfortable position.

“No...I shouldn’t have done anything. Then his buddy pushed Teddy and that’s when things went to shit. I put us in danger because I couldn’t control my anger.”

Billy touched Eli’s arm. “You shouldn’t apologize for standing up to racist pricks, Eli. A bunch of jerks at our school call Tommy and me ky***, and they wouldn’t stop until Tommy stood up to them.”

“I got suspended for a week,” said Tommy, “but it was totally worth it. You give the bigots an inch and they’ll take a mile.”

“Still doesn’t erase the fact that I put us in danger,” said Eli. “And Dorrek, I’m sorry that I got you hurt. If they didn’t flip out when they saw your real face and if Billy hadn’t erased their memories then...they might’ve done something really bad to hurt you.”

Teddy grabbed a can of grape soda. “Are all Earthlings that bigoted? Is this something I should worry more about?”

“Only if you wear that disguise in this country,” said Tommy. 

“Tommy!” said Cassie.

“What? It’s true.” Tommy sat upright. “Like you and Kate totally look like normal, white girls. Sure there’s the danger you face for your gender and you have to deal with all the sexist bullshit that the dudebros throw at you, but nobody is going to come after you the same way they do us. Billy and I are Jewish, plus Billy’s gay as a fucking pride parade.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “Thanks for that descriptor.”

“And Eli’s a black man,” continued Tommy. “Racism, antisemitism, and homophobia are alive and well in America, and it's getting worse globally. And poor Teddy’s disguise makes him look Latino so he gets to deal with racism and xenophobia! Hell, that xenophobia is worse since he’s literally from another planet. They would lock him and the rest of the Skrulls in concentration camps.”

Eli nodded. “It’s not safe for any of us to be in public. We’re all a target in some capacity.”

“That’s so depressing,” said Kate as she fiddled with her braided hair now that Cassie was finished. “My family’s wealthy so I can avoid a lot of this bullshit but wealthy people are so fucking disgusting went it comes to sexism and protecting serial harassers, especially sexual predators.”

“My point exactly! Even your proximity to whiteness and money can’t protect you from sexism and sexual harassment,” said Tommy. “But we pretend like everything is fine when it’s not! America sucks. Earth sucks. We’re all fucked.” He grabbed a soda and started to chug. He got about halfway done when he stopped and handed his popcorn over to Teddy. “You picked the wrong planet to hide on, bro. Your people aren’t safe here.”

Teddy took the popcorn and began to sadly munch away, while someone else was murdered in the movie.

*~*

The party started to die out about two hours after their discussion on bigotry started.

Billy disappeared with talks about going to bed, while Teddy left not too long after him. Cassie lazily munching on a chocolate bar as she struggled to stay awake on the sofa. However, she was clearly coming down from a sugar high and her body was moments away from crashing.

Tommy played poker with Eli and Kate at the table. While they didn’t play for money, they placed their bets on snacks as they played just for fun.

Kate resisted the urge to smirk as she saw her cards. It wasn’t a perfect hand, but it was solid enough that she could win this round. “I wager two donuts and a Twinkie.”

“I raise you three chocolate bars,” said Eli.

“I’m in. And I wager a grape soda, two Twinkies, and a chocolate bar.”

Cassie rolled onto her back and handed her chocolate over to Kate to finish. “You do realize how stupid your bets sound, right? Like how did you decide the value in everything?”

“Hush.” Eli showed his hand and smiled.

It was a solid hand. Tommy slammed his cards on the table and mumbled about Eli cheating.

Eli was about to take the snacks when Kate showed her hand. Eli muttered “shit” before pushing the snacks towards Kate.

“Thank you, gentlemen.” Kate finished Cassie’s chocolate before opening one of Tommy’s Twinkies. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” She mumbled between bites.

“Again!” Tommy took their cards and started to shuffle the deck. He moved with superspeed to shuffle the deck then passed the cards over to Eli for cutting.

Eli took the cards and reshuffle the cards a little before handing them to Kate for distributing. “So. Tommy, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.”

Tommy cocked a brow as he took his first two cards that Kate handed over. “What’s that? Is it about why I’m so sexy?”

Kate and Cassie snickered.

“No.” Eli grabbed his cards as Kate finished passing the cards. “I had a question about you and Billy. Like...where do you two come from?”

Tommy didn’t check his cards as he leaned over to the table. “What do you mean by that?”

“Like what are you? We know that you and Billy didn’t really exist until like two years ago. Soー”

Tommy curled his lips into his mouth. “You want to know where we come from. Mom willed us into existence.”

“How?” asked Kate as she was curious now.

“Mom’s powers grew to where she can warp reality. So she created Billy and me. We didn’t realize at first that she created us since we have a lifetime of memories, but we eventually found out the truth.”

Cassie sat upright. “Oh! So it’s just magic then. That makes sense.”

“Does it though?” Eli placed his cards back on the table. “If she just willed you into existence than are you even real people? Or are you just illusions given form by a spell?”

Tommy glared at Eli, holding back tears as he threw his cards at Eli. “Fuck off, Eli!” Tommy stormed out of the living room and slammed his bedroom door shut.

Kate tossed her cards at Eli too. “Not cool. How could you even ask something like that?”

“I justー” Eli shook his head. “Shit. That’s the second time I fucked up today.”

“You better apologize to him first thing in the morning.” Kate scooted away from Eli as she finished the last of her Twinkie.

Cassie reached over to take a Twinkie from the table. “It’s not a real slumber party unless someone leaves crying.”

*~*

Meanwhile, Teddy stepped out into the atrium. Within the safety of the compound, Teddy kept wandering in his Skrull form as there was no need for an earthly disguise.

Inside the atrium, vines crawled up the walls with flowers blooming everywhere. A tree was planted at a corner to provide some shade. There was only a glass roof overhead that protected the space from any harsh elements. It was in the atrium that Teddy he found Billy laid out on the grass instead of in his bedroom as he said.

Billy stared up to the sky as they had a stunning view of the stars even with the tree.

Teddy took a seat beside Billy as he too looked up to the sky. “It’s nice to see the stars from land instead of floating through space.”

“Really? I’d imagine it would be way cooler view up in space.”

Teddy shrugged. “It was at first. But being stuck in space just reminded me that my people have no homeworld and we’re trapped in the role of the nomad.”

Billy frowned. “When you say it like that, I can see how that’s a problem. At least you’re on a planet now. Your people can settle here on Earth...if you want.”

“Do you think so?” Teddy rolled onto his side to get a better look at Billy. “Even after everything your brother said about the bigotry on Earth? You still think we should settle here?”

“Yeah.” Billy rolled onto his side too. “Short of you finding a habitable planet that is free from people, I’m sure you’d experience bigotry no matter where you go in the universe. The Asgardians are doing a pretty good job of settling. And at least on Earth, well, you know there are people here who’ll stand up for you.”

“Who would stand up for the Skrull?”

“The Avengers would!” Billy scooted closer as he smiled at Teddy. “They’re sworn to protect you and your people. They wouldn’t make such a promise if they didn’t intend on keeping it.” Billy rolled onto his back. His eyes went back to staring up at the stars. “And...and I’d protect you. And your people too.”

Teddy laid on his back. He folded his hands over his chest and smiled. “You’d protect me. You did a pretty good job of that today. Even if you were a little terrifying when you were using your magic.”

Billy sat upright and curled his legs against his chest. “Oh. I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to see that side of me.” Billy closed his eyes. “When I have to use my magic like that. When I have to be super careful about the type of spell I’m casting...I feel like, I feel like I go to this dark place. These powers. As grateful as I am to have them, using them like that makes me feel so evil.”

“But you’re not.” Teddy moved over towards Billy, placing a hand on his back. “I've known you for a day, Billy, but I can tell there’s not an evil bone in your body. You strike me as the kindest boy in the universe.”

“You think so?” Billy hid his smile and tried to turn his face away from Teddy. Only to have Teddy touch his chin and pull him back so that they could face each other properly. They stared at each other, sitting there in silence. 

Billy kept forgetting to breathe as he stared into Teddy’s hazel eyes. Not because he was afraid of Teddy, but because every cell in his body was telling him to kiss him.

Teddy seemed hesitant as well until he finally made a move.

Instead of kissing Billy though, Teddy brushed their foreheads together and took a deep breath. He kept his fingers on Billy’s chin before finally pulling back. He then smiled. 

So Billy smiled back. 

“I was thinking about sleeping outside tonight,” whispered Teddy. “Would you. Would you like to...um, what did Ms. Carol call it.”

“Camp?” asked Billy.

“Yes!” Teddy’s eyes lit up as he spoke. “Camp. Would you like to camp here with me.”

Billy nodded. “Well, we need some pillows and blankets.” He then flicked his wrist to conjure pillows and blankets that appeared in swirls of blue magic. The pillows landed on the grass, while the blankets draped over them. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

They laid out on the grass together and got as comfortable as they could. They stayed there, staring at each other for a while before sleep struck Billy first then it came for Teddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last fluffy chapter for a while, folks. The next two chapters are going to see our babies in some big trouble as the Skrull and Kree finally show themselves. 
> 
> Kudo and comment!


	3. Disco Inferno

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovelies! Welcome to another fun-filled chapter of Nobody's Sidekicks. We're approaching the finish line of the first story, but don't worry there are still two more chapters left before we get to the next story.

Chapter 3: Disco Inferno

The first rays of light peeked through the glass roof with the gentle light pulling Billy and Teddy from the most glorious of sleep. They slept with their blankets wrapped around them, bundling them up like individual cocoons. Despite the barriers their blankets provided, they slept spooning against each other, neither one showing any signs of caring. Billy was the little spoon in the situation as he had one of Teddy’s bulky, Skrull arms touching his waist.

As it got brighter, they slowly opened their eyes. They were both in such a blissful state that they didn’t pay much attention to where they were or what time it was.

It was a moment more before Teddy was fully awake and let out a deep bear of a yawn that woke Billy up too. Billy chuckled as Teddy truly did sound like a bear. He rubbed his eyes and spun his body around with his blanket cocoon coming undone.

“Morning,” said Billy.

“Morning,” said Teddy. “How’d you sleep?”

Billy smiled. “Really good. You?”

“I say that was the best night of my life.” Teddy grinned as he brushed his forehead against Billy.

Billy chuckled a little. “Why do you do that? Not that I’m complaining. I think it’s really cute.”

Teddy pulled back and blinked with his large, black eyes. “Um...I guess Earthlings don’t do that. It’s a common Skrull gesture to express care for another person. I guess it’s kinda like when Earthlings kiss or hug each other.”

“Like a kiss?” Billy blushed. “Oh.”

“Or a hug.” Teddy pushed himself upright. “It doesn’t have to mean a kiss. Unlessー”

Billy was still blushing as he looked at Teddy and scooted a little closer to him. “Unless?”

“What are you two doing out here?”

Jennifer stood at the doorway of the atrium, causing their moment to come to a crashing halt. She was still dressed in her pajamas and looked rather irritable as she stood there with her hair a mess and her glasses dangling from the bridge of her nose. “Never mind. I don’t even want to know. But you boys better get inside before the sprinklers come on.” She wasted no more time on them, or lectured them on sleeping in such a compromising position, as she went back inside and mumbled about how she needed coffee.

Teddy curled his lips. He started to grab his blanket and pillow before Jennifer could come back and yell at them some more. “We better do as she says.”

“Yeah. We wouldn’t want her to She-Hulk on us.” Billy started to get up too. His shorts sliding a little from his waist as he moved, which didn’t go unnoticed by Teddy. 

They walked in together with Billy stepping very close to Teddy so that their hands could graze against each other. Billy started to back away as they approached the door but Teddy stopped Billy as he gently took Billy’s hand. Billy smiled at Teddy and the two walked inside and stayed holding hands until they parted ways at their bedrooms.

*~*

Tommy stayed in his pajamas as he left his bedroom to join everyone for breakfast. The spread wasn’t as extravagant as yesterday since Cassie and Kate were sharing the cooking duties. They kept it simple with pancakes, but there was still plenty of sausage leftover from yesterday that it all worked out in the end.

Tommy sat between Billy and Jen. Tommy started to pour himself a glass of orange juice when he noticed from the corner of his eye that Eli was looking at him from across the table. Tommy refused to give Eli any ground since he was still furious over last night.

It didn’t take much for Eli to take the hint. Eli went back to eating his breakfast with the rest of the table being equally as quiet.

Jen mostly enjoyed the silence since it meant less of a headache for her and not having to deal with the drama of teenagers.

Cassie took the syrup and poured a hearty amount over her pancakes. “So...what are we going to do today? Can we take a trip to the mall, maybe, Jen?”

“Absolutely not,” said Jen. “I don’t want you, kids, in heavily populated areas. That’s just asking for the Kree and Skrull to find Teddy.”

Teddy almost smiled as he cut his way through his stack of pancakes. Not from his life being in mortal danger, but with how easy it was for Jen to use his Earth-name. “Is there any activity that you’d approve of outside the compound? If possible, I’d like to enjoy the outside world.” 

Jen curled her lips. “I’ll think on it.”

“What about hiking?” Kate licked the syrup that got on her finger. “There’s a trail outside of the compound. And it’s still on Avenger property so it’s not like it’ll be open to the public.”

Eli shrugged. “That sounds safe. The only risk is one of us slipping and falling to their deaths.”

“That’s not a great marketing pitch, Eli,” said Jen.

Billy refilled his orange juice. “I can magic anyone out of danger. And Tommy’s really fast so he can run for help if something bad happens.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Sure...I’ll be our Uber. Why ask for my permission when you can draft me into the service.”

Billy turned to Tommy. “What’s wrong with you? You’re in a sourer mood than usual.”

“Nothing.” Tommy’s eyes darted over to Eli for a moment. “It’s nothing. A hike sounds like fun.”

Jen sighed. She could see it in their eyes that she could either give in to their request or deal with them begging for hours. “Alright, go on your hike. I’ll stay here and keep catching up on my reading. Try not to get into trouble.” 

*~*

The brisk air refreshed everyone as they already walked up the trail for a couple of miles. The trail was pretty gentle, which made it easy enough for them to pick up speed. And the distance they put between them and the Avengers’ Compound was enough to put their minds at ease as the tensions of cabin fever finally declined. 

Cassie popped the top of her water bottle. “How long do you think we should walk for? These trails go pretty far.”

“Not that far.” Green sparks flickered around Tommy as his hair became windswept. He whisked a bead of sweat from his forehead. “It took me only three seconds to make it to the end of the trail and back.”

“Yes, Tommy, but not all of us have superhuman speed,” said Kate. “The rest of us have to move at a human pace.”

Tommy chuckled. “Slowpokes.”

Eli kept to the front of the group. He put himself on the line of fire so that Teddy didn’t get accidentally hurt since they would never hear the end of it from Jen. And while he had beef with Tommy now, Eli could trust Billy to magic him to safety. “Maybe we should only go for another mile or two miles. Then we head back.”

“Works for me,” said Billy as he buried his hands into his pockets. “It’s still summer, but it's getting weirdly chilly.”

Teddy shrugged. “The weather feels nice to me, but if you need some more warmth just stick close to me.”

Billy blushed as he did just that. He scooted a few steps closer to Teddy but hid his face into his sweater.

Kate hooked arms with Cassie and they both whispered about how adorable those two were. Meanwhile, Eli was relatively oblivious as he still kept to the front of the pack.

Teddy took hold of Billy’s hand as they kept walking.

A groan came from behind them as Tommy pushed his way around. Billy turned to Tommy but Tommy had no intention of looking back at him.

Kate frowned when she saw that. She stayed with Cassie as she reached out to take Tommy’s arm. “Hey! So everything you were saying last night...about bigotry. You’re pretty woke.”

Eli peaked over his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of Tommy smirking from Kate’s comment.

“Woke is a stupid word and concept, but thanks,” said Tommy.

“Really? Why?” asked Cassie.

Tommy stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Woke is just a word that so-called progressives use to assuage their guilt, especially white guilt.”

“You’re really sounding woke there, Thomas,” said Billy.

“Only because I read a lot.”

Eli chuckled. He stopped walking and turned back. “You read? You don’t strike me as big into literature.”

Tommy huffed as he stopped walking too. “I’m a speedster. When you go as fast as I can, this world and everyone else in it moves at a snail’s pace. I have to do something to keep myself entertained or else I’d go insane. That’s why I want to be an Avenger. Fighting supervillains and space aliens, no offense, Teddy, is the only real challenge out there for someone like me.”

“Hence why you watch Grey’s Anatomy in secret?” Billy asked, while stilling holding onto Teddy’s arm.

Tommy pulled his arm away from Kate and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yeah. And that’s also why I read a lot. That’s the only way I can slow down enough that the world doesn’t drive me mad.”

“What do you read?” asked Cassie.

“I started with some classics like _Dorian Gray_ and _Jane Eyre_. Mom’s spell meant we had enough knowledge and memories of the world that the average teenagers would so I picked up books where no prior memories existed. Then I wanted to learn more about Jewish history and world history too so I started reading history books then I moved onto...I guess you would call them more radical academic works. I just finished Michelle Alexander’s _New Jim Crow_.”

Eli’s jaw hung open. “You actually read _New Jim Crow_?”

Tommy shrugged. “I thought it was a real eye-opener about the American criminal justice system.”

Billy shook his head as he saw a new side of his brother. “And yet you’re barely passing your classes.”

“School sucks and is too slow for me. And it’s not like I need A’s on a report card to tell me that I’m already better educated than most college students by going down the self-taught road.”

Tommy resumed hiking as he took the lead. He walked up to Eli and paused for a moment. “Not bad for someone who isn’t real, huh?” Tommy didn’t get Eli the chance to respond or apologize for last night as he kept on walking.

*~*

The Helion II landed in a clearing that touched a secluded corner of Vermont’s woods. The engines died out with Yon-Rogg slowly stepping out of the ship. He checked his wrist communicator to get a better geographic reading, while the rest of his crew left the security of the ship for this Terran planet.

Two were familiar enough with the planet. The blue-skinned Kree veterans, Att-Lass and Bron-Char, came to Earth during Yon-Rogg’s initial mission to find the Tesseract. They witnessed Mar-Vell’s sacrifice, Carol Danvers gaining her power, and later witnessed Danvers’s destructive power when they attempted to kill the Skrulls hiding in orbit.

Four more operatives joined them, filling the ranks of the fallen Korath and Minn-Erva. Three were experienced soldiers that had been reassigned from other units to join Starforce and were blue-skinned Kree like the others: Bar-Konn, Galen-Kor, Al-Vokk. However, the other was a fair-skinned youth like Yon-Rogg. Instead of blonde hair though, the young man had silver hair that was shaved tight on the sides with a shaggy top. The young man, Noh-Varr, kept to the rear as he stared around at their peculiar surroundings.

“What a disgusting planet,” said Galen-Kor. “I can’t wait until we grab the hybrid and return to Hala.”

“Don’t get too eager, Kor,” said Att-Lass. “The last thing you’ll want to do is act hastily. These Terrans have proven themselves to be a threat. Especially now that the Asgardians have built their new home here.”

Galen-Kor nodded, while the others initiated their initial scans of the planet.

Bron-Char muttered something under his breath before keying in a few commands. “Our scans are correct. We’re not too far from where the Terrans’ police force reported a peculiar encounter.”

“The biometrics scanner confirms Skrulls were in that area too,” said Al-Vokk. “They would most likely be investigating that area for the hybrid. Should we conduct our own investigation there?”

“I can undertake that mission, commander,” said Bar-Konn.

Yon-Rogg turned his gaze away from the scanner. His yellow eyes fell onto his team as he nodded slowly. “Go, Konn. Find out what you can about why the Skrulls were in that area. Meanwhile, we’ll work on narrowing the hybrid’s location.” Yon-Rogg raised a finger that he then pointed at Noh-Varr. “Except you, Varr. I have another mission for you.”

Noh-Varr placed his right hand over his heart. “Yes, commander?”

“I’m sending your coordinates. There’s a major, Terran city not too far from here where the Danvers’s allies, the Avengers, operated from. They have a small headquarters there that I need you to infiltrate. I want you to narrow your search for all their facilities in the region.”

“Understood, commander.”

“You all have your orders. Let’s get to work. I want the hybrid captured immediately.”

*~*

The climb back from the trail was harder than the climb up. At the summit of the trail, they had a perfect view of the old Avengers’ compound that was destroyed during the Avengers battle against Thanos and his army. Nature reclaimed most of the land, slowly repairing the land from the damage of Thanos’s warships. 

Coming back down the trail, they made it to the grounds of the compound. They went towards the front entrance where the memorial to the Avengers that fell in battle stood. A stone statue dedicated to Tony Stark (Iron Man), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), and the Vision greeted them.

Tommy paused to stare at the statue for a moment. He then walked away and started to make his way back into the compound when Eli stopped him.

“Listen, man, about yesterday,” said Eli, “I’m really sorry. I should’ve never said that about you and Billy.”

“It’s fine.” Tommy pulled his hand away from Eli.

Billy caught up to them just to catch the tail-end of what Eli said. “Said what about us?”

Tommy shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

Billy didn’t accept no for an answer. Even as Kate and Cassie signaled him to join him inside, he turned next to Eli. “What did you say about us? Is that why Tommy’s been acting so weird? And just cause we’re friends, don’t think I won’t use my magic to force a confession.”

“Uh…” Eli turned away. He saw that Tommy had their back towards them. Cassie and Kate covered their mouths as they hoped Eli took the hint not to speak anymore. All as Teddy took Billy’s hand once more, while Billy gave Eli a dark glare. “Uh...fine. I...I asked Tommy about where you came from. Then I asked if Wanda used a spell to give you life then does it really make you real or just an illusion.”

Billy’s mouth hung agape. “How...How could you say something so awful?”

“Because Eli’s right to question our existence.” Tommy still had his back turned away as he stared at the statue of the fallen. He stuffed his hands into his pocket and closed his eyes. “I’m not even sure if we’re real. Neither is mom.”

“What are you talking about!” Billy had tears in his eyes now. He pulled his hand away from Teddy and ran over towards Tommy. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tommy had tears in his eyes now. “Do you remember when Nightmare captured us and wanted to devour our souls so mom and Doctor Strange had to rescue us?”

“Yeah. And?”

“You weren’t conscious when we were trapped in Nightmare’s realm, but I was.” Tommy brushed the tears away from his eyes. “Nightmare accused mom of toying with the laws of reality. And he told her that our existence was tied to her imagination so if she stopped believing in us then we won’t exist anymore.”

Billy shook his head. “No...Nightmare is a demon! Why should we believe anything a demon says about us? Demons lie all the time.”

“Nightmare might’ve been lying. But that demon is almost as old as the universe. If anyone would know a thing about us then it would be him. Billy, he might be right about us.”

“No!” Billy backed away and threw his hands up. “You're mistaken. You’re all mistaken. We’re real and一” Billy couldn’t find the strength to keep speaking. He started crying too hard that he found himself running back inside the compound.

“Billy!” Teddy went after him, but Kate stopped him.

“Leave him,” Kate said, gently. “He needs a moment.”

Teddy frowned as he reverted back into his Skrull form.

Cassie patted Teddy on the back. “Let’s go inside, big guy. We’ll make some hot cocoa and...hopefully, Billy will be fine.” She took Teddy’s hand and walked him inside with Kate joining them as Tommy and Eli stayed outside.

Eli had tears in his eyes too as he walked up to Tommy. “Tommy, I’m一”

“I know. I know.” Tommy turned to Eli and was still crying. “We’re fine...you didn’t know you were picking at a sore spot.”

“Still doesn’t make what I said okay,” said Eli.

“I know...thanks, Eli.”

Eli went over to hug Tommy. And, surprisingly, Tommy allowed Eli to hug him and even returned the hug.

*~*

The Skrull disguised as Officer Jones and Officer Williams drove the police car at the edge of the upstate, New York town. The car parked in the driveway of a small, decrepit manor. It was late since they spent the past day continuing their investigation, searching for any more information they could on the abomination and his protectors. 

They entered the manor with them reverting back to their Skrull forms. Inside, the house was more impressive as they attached enough Skrull tech into the structure to modernize it significantly while also creating an impressive web of surveillance. Officer Jones inserted the data they took from the grocery store to help them better track the abomination.

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Officer Williams walked into the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. While he wasn’t exactly thrilled with Terran alcohol, it was better than nothing.

“Long enough. Get me a drink too,” said Officer Jones.

Officer Williams grabbed another beer. He made his way back to the central computer room when he stopped dead in his tracks and the beers slipped from his grip.

Across from him, Officer Jones was equally paralyzed as they stared at a massive figure that stood against the wall.

Another Skrull joined them, but his figure was far greater as he easily towered over them. He was dressed in a black and purple uniform that bore numerous crests along his left breast. He stood in silence for a moment before stepping towards the computer, while the other two Skrull dropped to their knees.

“Commander Kl’rt, you honor us,” said Officer Jones.

Kl’rt stared at the monitor to witness a replay of the grocery store footage. His dark eyes lighting up as he witnessed the appearance of Teddy before the image of Billy’s magic alerted him to another problem. “The abomination is under the protection of Terrans.”

“The Terrans in the video appear to just be children, commander. Their protection of the abomination is nothing compared to the might of our queen’s elite warriors, especially with a Super Skrull present,” said Officer Williams. “We’re working now to uncover their exact location. All we’ve accomplished so far is to narrow their location to this...the Terrans call this geographic zone a state. It covers around 87,870 kilometers.”

“Considering how massive this planet is, I suppose those results are better than nothing,” said Kl’rt. “I’ll call on the ships orbiting the planet to make landfall. I’ve brought over six dozen fighters with us. Not that we should need them all.”

Officer Jones kept his head lowered. “Is there anything else you would have us do, commander?”

Kl’rt shook his head. His eyes looked out the window with his ears twitching. “No. Focus on tracking the abomination. Notify my direct line immediately when you get his location.” Kl’rt stepped away from the two Skrulls. They started to get on their feet as Kl’rt disappeared into the backyard.

While the backyard was fenced off, it was still odd that Kl’rt would stepped outside without a disguise.

They didn’t hear what it was that trigger Kl’rt senses.

Kl’rt’s boots touched the grass. He slowly twisted his head to the side and clenched his fist. Sparks ignited as it became engulfed in fire, alarming Officer Jones and Officer Williams as the heat made them uneasy.

Kl’rt threw a fireball at the broken, wooden fence to startled whoever was in hiding. He sprang into action and moved quicker than anything as he leapt over the fence to grab a shrieking figure and dragged him back to the backyard. He slammed the spy to the ground with the Skrulls finding themselves in the presence of a Kree.

Bar-Konn picked his head up with an angry scowl on his face. “Skrull scum! You won’t get in the way of the glory of the Kree Empire.”

Kl’rt chuckled. “The Kree are on this planet too. Well, that just means we’ll need to accelerate our plans.” His other fist became rock-like and dense as he smashed Bar-Konn’s face in until all that remained was a lifeless corpse. He stripped the corpse of its communicator and disabled its ability to transmit a signal before passing it over to his associates. “Grab all the data you can off that!” He kicked the corpse over to see the symbol on the chest. “Starforce. Yon-Rogg is here, which means more trouble. Extract the data quickly! He’ll know his lackey is dead in moments.”

“Yes, commander!” said Officer Jones as he ran back inside.

Kl’rt flicked the blood from his hand as he shifted it back to its normal form. He looked up to the sky and cursed his luck that Yon-Rogg was on Earth too.

*~*

Days passed since their trip on the trails. Things became..awkward to say the least. Even after Tommy made up with Eli, Tommy still kept his distance from everyone as he stayed alone in his room. 

Billy did the same as he even started to avoid speaking with Teddy. The bomb Tommy dropped on Billy proved too much for him to process. And Billy’s absence even made Teddy stray away from everyone, while he didn’t lock himself away in his bedroom, he didn’t express the jovial energy he once did.

Only Kate, Eli, and Cassie were taking things even the slightest bit well. Although, they really only talked with each other since they couldn’t get the others to interact.

And even with her brilliant lawyer-mind, Jen did nothing to solve this mess. She knew something happened during the hike, but since they weren’t fighting, it wasn’t really her place to do anything about them. However, she kept watching them and would step in should a fight break out or if their mental wellbeing worsened.

Billy left his room for a moment, dressed in sweatpants and a ragged t-shirt, to get some water. His eyes briefly met Teddy who was in the kitchen too, fixing himself a sandwich.

Billy stayed silent as he grabbed himself a glass of water. He avoided making eye contact with Teddy again as he couldn’t handle it right now.

Teddy finished making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Cassie recently taught Teddy about this delicious snack that Earth children loved and he became obsessed with them. He saw that he still had everything out and Billy hadn’t run away, yet. “Um...hi, Billy. Are you hungry?”

Billy brushed his bangs away from his face. “No...I’m fine. Thank you, Teddy.”

“Okay.”

Silence returned to the kitchen as Billy finished pouring his drink then disappeared into his bedroom once more.

Teddy stared at his sandwich with tears escaping his dark eyes.

*~*

That night, Kate ran to Billy’s door and knocked on it hard. She kept knocking until Billy finally opened the door. She pushed her way inside and slammed the door closed behind her. “Get dressed. We’re going out.”

“What?”

“You heard me.” Kate grabbed her cell phone. She passed it over so that Billy could see the web invite. “There’s a party in the city. It’s going to be insane. Lots of rich kids and everyone is going to be a total mess, which is exactly the type of outlet we need after everything that’s happened.”

Billy raised his eyebrows. “And Jen gave us permission to go out?”

Kate smirked. “We’re sneaking out, bitch. I already convinced everyone else to go. So we just need you to come with to portal us there and back. Plus, you’ll get to dance the night away with Teddy.”

“Kate.”

Kate tugged on Billy’s arms. “Look, what Tommy and Eli said, it fucked with your head hard. But it’s been a week. Your mom’s been gone, running around in who knows how many dimensions looking for Strange. If your existence was in danger then you both would’ve faded away by now.” She pulled Billy closer so that he could look her directly in the eyes. “You and Tommy are real boys. You are living and breathing. And right now, you need to party so you can forget about all the bullshit. And you deserve the right to dance with the totally hot alien prince who finds your geeky ass attractive. Got it?”

Billy chuckled and fought the urge to cry. “Got it.”

Kate hugged him. “Now, get cleaned up. And meet us outside by eleven-thirty. Jen will be dead asleep by then.”

With Kate running out of the room, Billy stared at the door for a moment and thought hard about sneaking out. He was against it, but somehow he feared that Kate would assassinate him if he tried to bail on them.

*~*

Rendezvousing outside the compound at exactly eleven-thirty, they snuck out to freedom. They were all dressed to party with even Teddy dressed appropriately thanks to Cassie’s help. She 3D printed him clothes that would make him blend in with a New York crowd.

Billy fixed the collar of his yellow flannel. He smiled once he saw Teddy standing there in his human form and all dressed up in black: skinny black jeans and a fitted shirt that hugged every line of his thick form. 

Teddy smiled back at Billy. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry,” said Billy.

“Don’t be. You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Ahem.” Tommy interrupted their flirting with a harsh whisper. “We need to go like now so not to risk Jen catching us.”

Billy nodded. He used the Sling Ring to open a portal for them into the city. He concentrated on the general area that the party was located, focusing on a familiar alley. Sparks of orange light ignited before them with everyone jumping to cross.

The portal transported them to Williamsburg. The vibrant sounds of the city greeted them as they stepped out of the alleyway without anyone paying them any attention.

Cassie cheered for their freedom. “I miss the city! Be here makes me wish I was back in San Francisco.”

“New York is way better, love,” said Tommy as he wrapped his arm over her shoulder. “Come with me and I’ll show you all the spots.”

“Someone’s back to his old self.” Kate poked Tommy’s rib. “Hurry, children! The night isn’t getting any younger.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Eli as he followed Kate.

Teddy and Billy trailed behind. 

Teddy took in every sight that he could as they wandered into New York. His jaw hung slightly open as it was breathtaking to him. “Between being on a ship and locked in the compound, I haven’t seen a city like this in...a long time. And you’re from here?”

Billy shrugged. “Not here, exactly. Tommy and I live on the Upper East Side. Not too far but in a different neighborhood.” 

“Interesting.”

“You think so?” Billy clung onto Teddy’s arm as they followed everyone else, while nobody really paid them any attention.

Teddy nodded. “I find you very interesting. I want to know everything about you, Billy Maximoff.”

Billy smiled. “You’re too good to be true, Teddy Atlman.”

They smiled at each other when they heard Kate yell at them.

They made it to the party. 

It was in an old theatre that since been stripped of almost everything on the inside. Now, it was just a spot where rich kids would have the city turn the power back on so they could host their obscure parties.

Kate got everyone in without any trouble. Even though the crowd was mostly of college kids, the name recognition of the Bishop's family was enough to pave their way inside.

And inside they went where they were bombarded with trance music. The intense beat excited them all even Teddy as he started to sway his body to the music. They kept close as the crowd thickened the deeper they went until they arrived at the theatre floor where all the seats were stripped away and converted to a giant dance floor.

A DJ was set up on the stage with the strobe lights going off to create an almost disco-rave combo that made everyone go wild.

With it getting louder and more crowded, it was harder to keep track of each other but someone found them before they got lost.

“Katie!” A blonde-haired woman in a hot pink dress ran up to Kate and started to kiss her cheeks. “I’m so glad you made it.”

Kate gave a polite smile. “Thanks for the invite, Vicky.”

“My pleasure! You and your friends enjoy yourselves. Okay? Byeeeee.” Vicky walked away from them with her eyes straying onto Teddy for a moment longer before she disappeared into the crowd. 

“Friend of yours?” asked Eli.

Kate rolled her eyes. “Society people aren’t friends. Just acquaintances, but Vicky Stone knows where all the best parties are at. So, like she, let’s enjoy ourselves!”

“Hell yeah!” cheered Tommy.

*~*

The party was exactly what they needed to take their minds off things.

Eli spun Cassie around and the two of them laughed when Cassie accidentally bumped into a neighboring couple.

Meanwhile, Tommy and Kate were caught in a sweaty pit of a bunch of other boys and girls that were dancing like it was nobody’s business. And it truly wasn’t. Tonight was their night and no one could judge them.

And speaking of avoiding judgment, Billy and Teddy managed to find their own spot on the dance floor. They were a bit further away from the others, giving them the illusion of privacy even as a bunch of sweaty bodies danced close by. 

Billy managed to teach Teddy some rhythm since Earth dancing wasn’t something Carol taught him how to do.

“You’re a quick study.” Billy danced closely to Teddy as he watched how effortlessly Teddy swayed his hips to the music.

Teddy smiled. “You’re a good teacher.”

“If you say so.” Billy placed his arms around Teddy’s neck as they danced closer. 

Their legs and hips gently touching each other as the music got a bit softer with the lyrics getting just a little more suggestive. Billy stared into Teddy’s eyes and couldn’t even hear the music as all that was there was Teddy. Teddy felt the same way as he placed his hands onto Billy’s hips and held him. 

They kept dancing to the music while they held eye contact.

“Are all Skrull as amazing as you or is just because you’re a prince?” asked Billy.

Teddy brushed his forehead against Billy. “I could ask the same of you. Never could I imagine that a planet in such a tiny solar system could contain someone as wonderful as you.”

“And I never thought I’d have to look to space to meet someone like you,” said Billy.

Teddy grinned. He leaned closer with Billy closing the gap between them. They finally kissed and instinctively pulled each other closer, holding each other as tight as they could while the music got louder. The cheers from the crowd as the DJ played a crowd favorite made Billy and Teddy feel as though they had the world cheering for them as they finally pulled themselves apart.

They giggled while continuing to hold each other as they swayed to the music.

Meanwhile, Vicky wandered in from the crowd. She extended her hand out as a dark-haired man passed a needle to her. She took the needle and went over towards Billy and Teddy.

They were too busy focusing on each other that it was easy enough for Vicky to get behind Teddy. She pricked his back with the needle and walked just a bit further away as she passed the needle to a red-headed woman.

In seconds, Teddy felt a sharp pain. He pulled away from Billy as he held onto his side as his skin started to burn something fierce. He soon dropped to the ground with a loud thud that it caught everyone nearby by surprise. The party continued to rage on as he struggled to move on his own.

“Teddy!” screamed Billy.

“Ah! What’s happening to him?” said Vicky. 

Billy went to take Teddy’s hand only to feel that it was scorching hot. When Billy pulled back, Teddy gasped as he lost control. He shifted back into his Skrull form with everyone soon taking notice and freaked.

“What is he?”   


“It’s a monster!”

“No, he’s an alien! Someone call the Avengers!”

Teddy tried to revert back to his human form to lower the panic, but the damage was already done and he was in too much pain to try and shift.

Billy grabbed Teddy’s hand and helped him back up just as everyone grabbed their phones and started to broadcast what they were seeing. Billy was in too much of a panic to control himself too. He screamed at them to stop recording but instead, he created a magical flare-up that caused the speakers to explode. 

Everyone in the theatre screamed as things only got worse from there. People were flooding out of the theatre with Billy dragging an exposed Teddy outside, while Tommy gathered Kate, Cassie, and Eli.

They all ran for the exit, unaware as Vicky watched their escape.

*~*

At a pizza shop in Harlem, Noh-Varr had half an empty box of pizza in front of him, while he used a Terran tablet to review all the documents he stole from a Starks’ Industries building. It was easy enough for him to get everything he wanted as he showed off his pearly, white teeth and charmed the pants off several staff workers. That included men and women.

Noh-Varr found the Terran tech horribly inferior to what he was used to working with but didn’t want to startle anyone with superior Kree tech. He dragged his finger across the screen as he read through all the documentation. Most of the material was useless to his mission, while only a few tidbits actually would benefit Yon-Rogg in the slightest. He found an accurate list of the current Avengers and some protocols, but nothing that narrowed down the location of Prince Dorrek.

He tapped his feet along to the beat of the music as he finished another slice of pizza. The music tore him away from his research and enjoyed the voices of the women who serenaded the patrons from the restaurant's speakers. They sang of being strong, independent women and referred to someone named Charlie.

He looked up as one of the restaurant workers came walking towards him to cater to a nearby table. “Ma’am, who are these goddesses that are singing?” 

The dark-skinned woman smiled. “Oh, baby, you must be real young. This is Destiny’s Child.”

“Destiny’s Child.” Noh-Varr smiled as she went back to catering to other tables. “I like this Destiny’s Child.”

Noh-Varr continued to enjoy the women singing and his pizza, but his joyous reprieve was interrupted when a nearby TV showed a newscast that happened to catch his attention. It was a report of a party going in the city that was crashed by the appearance of an alien.

The slice of pizza fell from his mouth as he saw a Skrull on live television and knew that had to be Prince Dorrek.

*~*

“Can you shift back?” Billy did all that he could to support Teddy’s weight as they made a run for it.

Luckily, it was late enough that not too many people paid attention, but enough people flipped out as they saw an alien on the streets of New York.

Teddy clenched his teeth and made the effort. He slowly started to shift back into his disguise as the pain from earlier started to fade away. “I think I can hold it now.”

The others started to catch up to them as they ran into the street, escaping most of the traffic for a one-way road.

“What the hell happened back there?” asked Eli.

“I don’t know. I just felt a sharp pain then I lost control of my shift.”

“He was burning up too,” said Billy.

Kate checked Teddy’s forehead to see if she could kind of gauge his temperature. “You feel normal. Did you drink or eat anything?”

Teddy shook his head. “No. I did feel like something prick me.”

“Maybe he bumped into somebody’s jewelry or something?” asked Cassie. “Are Skrulls allergic to metals?”

“None that I know of.”

Tommy shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here before we get into any more trouble. All those people were recording us so Jen probably already knows we snuck out. Billy!”

Billy grabbed his Sling Ring and got to work on opening a portal when they heard something loud landing from behind them. They looked back to see Vicky with five other people besides her. Vicky and these strangers watched them with an eerie expression that told them they were in serious trouble.

Kate stepped in front of Teddy as her gut told her exactly what she needed to know. “You’re not, Vicky, are you?”   


“Nope.” Vicky and the others shifted their appearance as they revealed themselves to be Skrull. The other Skrull had a more masculine form, while fake Vicky retained a feminine physique. “Don’t worry about her though. She’s locked up in a close, she’ll be fine. Which is more than I can say for you and your little friends if you don’t hand the abomination over to us.”

“Like Hell we will!” Tommy ran over towards fake Vicky. Green light flared around Tommy as he moved at an impressive speed, but a slim Skrull stepped in the way as he moved almost as fast as he did. The Skrull struck Tommy in the chest.

Tommy fell hard, rolling around on the cement until he bumped into a parked car. He clung onto his stomach just as another Skrull attempted to stomp his head in. Luckily, threads of blue magic entangled itself around that Skrull’s leg and pushed him away from Tommy.

Tommy smirked and thanked Billy for his rescue.

Eli looked to his left to find metal trash cans. He pointed at them. “Billy!”

Billy took the hint as he waved his hand to grab a trash can lid. He sent it flying towards Eli while bending the edges around slightly to convert it into a makeshift shield.

Armed for combat, Eli took his weapon and smashed it into the chest a Skrull.

The fake Vicky lunged after Kate, while another went after Cassie.

Kate was ready as she ducked out of fake Vicky’s path. She then wound herself around and dragged fake Vicky to the ground.

Meanwhile, the other Skrull that went after Cassie was in for a serious surprise. The Skrull grabbed her wrist, but before he could attack, Cassie disappeared from sight. The Skrull stumbled forward and was confused when his arm was twisted back and Cassie reappeared to drag him down.

Tommy ran over towards Cassie’s side with his eyes wide. “Did you...How did you shrink without a suit?”

Cassie sat on the Skrull to keep him restrained. “I injected Pym Particles directly into me.”

“You can do that?”

“No bad side effects so far. Don’t tell my dad though.”

Before Tommy could think twice, a Skrull tackled him. Meanwhile, the Skrull that Cassie was sitting on grabbed hold of her.

Billy conjured a shield over him and Teddy as two Skrull tried to jump them. The wall of blue magic buckled as Billy could barely keep them both safe as Teddy was still too injured to be much help.

“I can fight,” said Teddy. “Don’t worry about me.”

“No! I’ll protect you.” Billy fought back as his knees buckled. The Skrulls struck his barrier with his full weight, causing it to break as he lost his concentration.

One of the Skrull struck Billy across the face, sending him falling.

Teddy growled as he threw a fist at the other Skrull. He had enough strength in him to do some damage as he lunged after the Skrull that attacked Billy. He went to strangle that Skrull with both his hands when the Skrull he punched came up behind him and dragged him off.

“Commander Kl’rt wants to kill you himself, abomination!” said the Skrull as he choked Teddy.

Billy’s eyes fluttered open as he saw the battle.

Kate kept fighting fake Vicky, but fake Vicky was starting to win. Cassie kept shrinking to get away from her Skrull as all she could do was run away. Eli smashed a Skrull with his makeshift shield but was still losing. Tommy was barely holding his own too as a Skrull threw him towards another car.

Then there was Teddy who had a Skrull strangling him while another grabbed his legs and was making their move to escape with him.

Knots started to form in Billy’s stomach, while the lights on the street began to flicker uncontrollably. The changes caused the Skrulls to lose focus for a moment. Their dark eyes looked in terror as blue energy gathered around Billy as he started to get back on his feet.

“Get the fuck off my friends!” 

Billy shot a bolt of blue energy at the Skrull that tried restraining Teddy’s legs. That Skrull was thrown through the window of a nearby storefront.

Billy twisted his fingers around to force the Skrull that was choking Teddy to let him go. Teddy gasped for air, while that Skrull screamed in terror as his fingers cracked while Billy dragged him into the air. Billy extended his hand forward, which sent that Skrull flying so far and so fast that he was probably in New Jersey by now.

The Skrulls attacking Tommy and Cassie charged after Billy, but soon met a just as miserable defeat. He blasted them both. One of the Skrulls crashed into a fire hydrant and the other was sent down the street where he crashed into a car.

Eli’s Skrull went down just as hard as Billy blasted him into a bus that was just starting to make its turn. And fake Vicky tried to make a run for it only for Billy to blast her too. She went flying into the air and crashed onto the rooftop of another building.

With the Skrull problem handled, Billy’s sanity started to piece itself back together. The magic surging through Billy began to die out as the electricity in the area began to run normally even as every building and car alarm went off from Billy’s unstable display of magic.

They all ran over towards him now that the Skrulls were gone and it was safe.

“You are the most terrifying boy I’ve ever met.” Cassie quickly threw her arms around Billy. “I’m also really glad we’re best friends and I promise never to get on your bad side.”

Billy hugged her back and nearly lost his balance as so much energy left him. He hung in there as he went over to Teddy. Both of them now sporting bruises. “Are you okay?”

Teddy smiled as he gently touched the bruise forming on Billy’s cheek. “I’m good. Let’s get out of here before more Skrull show up.”

“Yes, please!” said Tommy.

Billy slid his Sling Ring onto his fingers and opened a portal. He yelled at them to get inside before he made his way inside.

However, just before Billy made it into the portal, there was a quiet bang. He felt and heard nothing as something so tiny struck the collar of his shirt as the portal closed.

On a nearby rooftop, Noh-Varr slid his gun back into the holster. He brought his communicator to his face as he sent an urgent transmission to his team. “I bugged one of the hybrid’s comrades as they disappeared into some kind of portal made from Terran magic. Sending you the coordinates immediately.”

Yon-Rogg’s voice echoed from the transmission. “Excellent work, Noh-Varr. Report back to the ship”

Noh-Varr cut the transmission off and sat on the roof for a moment. He took a bite of his last slice of pizza since he was in no rush. He did his job, now it was up to his comrades to do the rest.

*~*

The portal opened on the Avengers’ Compound with everyone running as quickly as they could inside. They started to scream for Jen, but she was already waiting for them in the living room with the TV on.

It played a news report of what happened at the theatre with another report mentioning there was an attack in another neighborhood.

“What the hell did you, idiots, do?” said Jen.

“We snuck out,” confessed Cassie.

Jen rolled her eyes. “No, duh! But what the hell happened?”

Tommy gulped. “The Skrulls found us. They set up the party to lure us out.”

“How would they even know一”

“I got into a fight at the grocery store,” said Eli. “And...Teddy was exposed.”

“But I erased the guys' memories,” said Billy.

“Did erase the surveillance footage?” They shook their heads with Jen groaning at them. “Then the Skrulls had footage of all you. They could track you down!” Jen took a deep breath to keep her rage in check. She turned to Kate and Eli. “Grab your gear. We’re going to make a run for it, but we might get into a fight.”

Eli and Kate took off to their bedrooms to grab their weapons.

Teddy frowned. “Where are we going next?”

Jen shook her head. “I don’t know. New Asgard. Maybe Wakanda. Our best bet for protection is with Brunnhilde or T’Challa, especially if your stupidity got the attention of the Kree too.”

“We’re sorry, Jen,” said Cassie.

“Sorry isn’t good enough this time, kids.” Jen grabbed keys to a Quinjet to help get them to safety sooner. She made her way to the door with Kate and Eli coming back just in time to follow them out.

They ran towards the hanger to get into a Quinjet when the roar of engines was heard overhead. They looked up to spot an unfamiliar ship overhead with Teddy warning them to get to safety.

“It’s a Kree ship!”

The Helion II opened fire on the hanger to prevent their escape. The ship fired a few shots towards the compound too, creating massive rubble that would crush them.

Billy threw his hands into the air and bands of orange magic ignited with a mandala barrier taking form. The barrier shielded them from the rubble, and the Helion II landed with its occupants coming out.

“By order of the Kree and our emperor, I order you to hand over Prince Dorrek to us,” said Yon-Rogg as he and his men came armed. “Act quickly and you and the children will be spared.”

Teddy clenched his fists. “That’s Yon-Rogg. He was Ms. Carol’s former commander in Starforce.”

Jen took her glasses off. “Well, unfortunately for you, I don’t recognize the authority of your empire or your stupid intelligence.”

“How dare you,” said Bron-Char.

Yon-Rogg warned him to hush. He activated his rifle. “Now, miss. Think of the children.”

Jen looked to her left. “Billy, when I give you the signal, portal everyone to New Asgard.”

“I can’t go that far.”

“Then get somewhere safe that as far away from you as you can.”

“Okay, but what’s the signal?”

Jen undid her hair bun. “You’ll know it when you see it.” She ran her hand through her hair. She stepped away from them, getting closer to Yon-Rogg and his Kree fighters. “Mr. Yon-Rogg, I’ll have you know that I’m a lawyer. So I know you have no legitimate claim over Prince Dorrek.”

“He has Kree blood,” said Yon-Rogg. “That’s all the legitimacy we need.”

“Not even in the slightest. Not that it matters.” Jen cracked her knuckles. “Carol told me all about you, Yon-Rogg. She says you’re not particularly fond of strong women. And given how foolishly you’ve come here, I take it you know nothing of what I am.”

“Should I care?”

Jen smiled. “You should. Because I’m an angry, green woman.” Jen’s body began to shift as she grew to be about seven feet tall and her skin turned completely green with her hair turning dark green too. Her body became bulkier as her clothes tore apart to reveal a purple and white bodysuit that stretched with her body. “I’m the INCREDIBLE SHE-HULK!”

Yon-Rogg’s eyes widened as he backed away. “None of you mentioned they had a Hulk!”

“A She-Hulk!” said Al-Vokk.

She-Hulk jumped across the courtyard to put herself between them and the Kree. She grabbed some of the rubble and used it to batter the Kree so that they couldn’t get to Teddy.

The Kree used their jet boots to get away, but Att-Lass wasn’t too fortunate. A chunk of rubble struck his boots and left him stuck to the ground where She-Hulk smashed him with a steel beam that cracked his skull.

“Att-Lass!” shouted Bron-Char.

“Shoot her!” Galon-Korr took aim with Al-Vokk and Bron-Char joining him. They shot their rifles at She-Hulk, while Yon-Rogg attempted to take advantage of the chaos to go after Teddy.

Kate shot an arrow at Yon-Rogg’s direction, forcing him to retreat for a split second. “We got a signal. Now, let’s move!”

“But Jen!” said Billy.

She-Hulk growled as she repelled the Krees’ assault. She grabbed onto Galon-Korr and started to slam him into the ground repeatedly as Al-Vokk and Bron-Char watched in horror.

Tommy gulped. “Jen’s got this. We need to regroup. So portal us out!”

Billy nodded despite how much he hated abandoning Jen to face to Kree, especially given their arrival was all their fault. He used the Sling Ring to open a portal back into the city and had to step in just as Yon-Rogg started to shoot at them. He managed to maintain the portal while creating a blue barrier to offer protection. He barely managed to make it through his own portal before exhaustion overwhelmed him.

The portal disappeared with Yon-Rogg growling in frustration as Teddy was now out of sight.

Yon-Rogg took cover before She-Hulk could get him as he began to key in his communicator. He watched his remaining men retreat as Galon-Korr laid dead too. “Noh-Varr, track the hybrid’s comrades. We’re having a difficult situation here. They have a gamma beast.”

“Understood, commander.”

Yon-Rogg took a deep breath then began to fire upon She-Hulk once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jen doesn't play around. She-Hulk is 100% that bitch! But will she survive her encounter with the Kree, and how will the team fare without their protector as the Skrulls and Kree know how to track Teddy? We'll find out soon.
> 
> Kudo and comment!


	4. Children of the Revolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy! Howdy! Brace yourselves for some intense ass-kickery as we approach the end of Nobody's Sidekicks.

Chapter 4: Children of the Revolution

Orange sparks ignited on the ground of Grand Central Terminal. The terminal was mostly empty and the few people out this late began to run away as Tommy and Cassie were the first to step outside of the portal. Eli, Kate, and Teddy soon followed behind them with Billy appearing last as he closed the portal behind him.

In doing so, Billy also cut Jen off without an escape route of her own. He could only pray that the She-Hulk was powerful enough to repel the Kree.

“We’re still in New York?” Cassie looked around to see the few stragglers running away. Her voice echoing slightly against the stone architecture with the monitors showing the train schedule.

“Is this really the furthest you could take us?” asked Tommy.

Billy nodded. “Quit being so demanding. I’m doing my best here without completely freaking out!”

Teddy squeezed Billy’s hand as he offered his gratitude to Billy for getting them to safety.

“We’re safe for now,” said Kate, while holding onto her quiver and bow, “but where are we going?”

Eli tightened the straps of his shield to his forearm. “Anywhere but here. We can’t stay out in the open and wait until the Kree or Skrull find us again.”

“Strange.” Billy’s eyes lit up at the thought. “We’ll go to Doctor Strange’s place. I can’t teleport us directly to the Sanctum Sanctorum because of the magic that guard it, but I can get us to Greenwich Village.”

“I thought Doctor Strange was gone though?” asked Kate.

Tommy smirked as he started to piece together Billy’s plan. “He is, but the Sanctum is guarded by another sorcerer. Wong is an ally of Strange. He can keep us safe until we can figure out a better plan.”

“Then off to Greenwich Village!” said Cassie.

“Wait!” Teddy continued to hold onto Billy’s hand before they all made their exit. “When the Skrulls attack again, we need to be prepared for any tricks they’ll use. You’ve already experienced their combat abilities and their shapeshifting, while you’re competent enough to fight them, you need to know how to counteract their shapeshifting.”

Eli nodded. “Good point. What should we do if a Skrull shapeshifts into one of us? How do we know who the real us is?”

“One advantage is that we, Skrulls, can’t replicate powers. While we can replicate combat skills like yours, Kate, we can’t copy any superpowers. So all Billy, Tommy, and Cassie need to do is just show off their powers. As for you, Eli, Skrulls have the same abilities as you do so that won’t help.”

Teddy squeezed Billy’s hand a little tighter before looking back at everyone else. “We can also copy some short term memories.”

Cassie gulped. “How recent of memories can you copy?”

“Not much. The most I’d say is about a week’s worth of memories,” said Teddy. “That is your key to finding out if they’re a Skrull or not. If you need to test anyone then mention something back from the first day we met. Those memories would be too old for any Skrull to copy.”

“Got it,” said Kate. “So...are we portaling to Greenwich? Or are we taking the subway?”

Above them, the glass roof shattered.

A dozen bodies descended from the sky as Skrull warriors appeared with scaley, green wings retracting into their backs. Amongst the Skrull was one larger than all the others who wore a military attire that left them nervous as they could tell he was no ordinary Skrull.

Teddy straightened his posture as he stepped in front of Billy. “Commander Kl’rt.”

Kl’rt glared at Teddy. “Do not speak my name, abomination.”

Kate pointed an arrow at Kl’rt, while Eli raised his shield. Cassie kept close to Tommy, while blue lights flickered around Billy.

Kl’rt chuckled. “You would have Terrans fight your battles, abomination? How despicable. You are unworthy of the noble Skrull blood.”

“These Terrans are my friends,” said Teddy, “and they are far nobler than you or your men.”

“Abomination!” A Skrull charged towards them.

Tommy’s hand vibrated at a rapid frequency that caused that Skrull to erupt in a pile of green goo. Kl’rt and the other Skrulls were taken aback, while Tommy simply grinned. “Like the prince said, we’re his friends,” said Tommy, “and we won’t let you harm him!”

“You killed him,” Billy whispered towards Tommy.

“They’ll do far worse to you,” said Teddy. “Kl’rt and his men are professional soldiers. And they want me dead so they won’t show any of you mercy.”

“Then we fight to kill.” Kate fired an arrow at Kl’rt, which he caught between his fingers. However, the arrow was a smokescreen that erupted in Kl’rt’s grasp.

A cloud of smoke flooded the terminal with Kate yelling at them to run for the exit. They started to make their way out when the Skrulls blew through the smokescreen to chase after them.

A Skrull flew after Cassie, but she shrunk down when he tried to grab her. Cassie re-group to normal size and caught her opponent by surprised as she used the momentum she built from shrinking to toss him over her shoulder. Cassie kicked the Skrull in the face before she made a run for the stairs.

Meanwhile, Eli slammed the pointed end of his shield into the chest of a Skrull, while Kate shot arrows at every Skrull that flew after them.

Tommy ran interference as best as he could to knock out any Skrull with a quick punch. The flares of green light that surrounded him served as a trail that Kl’rt followed. Kl’rt snatched the back of Tommy’s shirt mid-run then threw him across the terminal.

Tommy crashed into a marble column with his eyes wide as no one had ever moved fast enough to do that to him. Even the Skrull he faced earlier that night wasn’t as fast as Kl’rt. “Finally.” Tommy pulled himself back up. “A real challenge.” Tommy rolled his shoulders back and forth before making a run for it again to chase after Kl’rt so that he couldn’t go after Teddy.

Billy and Teddy ran to the second floor of the terminal to make their escape when several Skrulls swarmed around them. Billy tried to repel them only for a Skrull to tackle him to the ground. Four more followed to keep Billy distracted, while the rest targeted Teddy.

“No, Billy!” Teddy tried to push through the other Skrulls only for them to drag him back down to the first floor.

“Teddy!” A wave of blue magic rippled out from Billy’s body as he pushed the Skrulls off him. The Skrulls were flung carelessly aside as he attempted to propel himself down to the first floor only for a Skrull to grab his leg.

The Skrull dragged Billy back to the ground. Billy swatted his hand in the direction of that Skrull to force the Skrull to release him.

Billy dragged himself back to his feet as the remaining Skrulls surrounded him. “How did you find us?”

“You have a Kree-signal on you,” said a Skrull. “The Kree marked you without you even noticing. How careless of you, Terran.”

Billy glared at them. “RemoveTheTracker. RemoveTheTracker. RemoveTheTracker.” He heard something short-circuit behind him and felt something fall from his shoulder. He figured Yon-Rogg or one of the other Kree tagged him before they escaped the compound, but that was a problem for another time.

First, he needed to stop the Skrulls and save Teddy.

“Now, get out of my way!” said Billy.

“Make us, child,” said a Skrull.

Waves of blue magic pushed Billy into the air as his eyes turned pitch black. The Skrulls looked up in horror as they realized they said the wrong thing to him and saw for themselves why the Skrulls that attacked at the party hadn’t returned from their mission.

Billy descended back down to the ground with bolts of blue magic wrapping around the Skrulls. They were next dragged up into the air with the other Skrulls in the area watching as their comrades were thrown towards the reception area on the ground floor. Billy shot them down with enough force that there was no way they were getting back up.

Billy turned his sights onto Kl’rt and the remaining Skrulls when Kl’rt issued their retreat.

They re-grew their wings as they flew out of the rooftop while abandoning their injured comrades with Billy’s eyes slowly returning to normal.

Tommy supported Billy as he landed back on the ground. “I got you.”

“What about Teddy?” asked Billy.

“Over here.” Teddy climbed upstairs with Cassie next to him. She helped support his weight as he now sported a few bruises. “Thanks, Billy. Your magic did a real number on them.”

Billy ran over to gently hug Teddy. “Let’s get out of here. We need to go to the Sanctum before we get into another fight.”

“Let’s go.” Teddy made his way to the exit, moving quickly with the others following behind.

However, Tommy paused for a moment. He did a quick sweep of the terminal and while he didn’t find anything suspicious, something in his gut was telling him that something wasn’t right.

*~*

Arriving at a secluded corner of Central Park, Kl’rt and his Skrulls touched the ground. Kl’rt held his forearm up to push a few keys onto his communicator. In seconds, a large ship became visible with a few other Skrulls stepping out from the open bay door.

“Prepare immediate evacuation from this miserable planet,” said Kl’rt.

Kl’rt ascended up the steps when he stopped for a moment. He looked back to Teddy who had reverted back to his Skrull form during the fight and now had his mouth gagged, while two Skrulls kept him restrained. 

Kl’rt removed the gag from Teddy’s mouth. “Soon the true ruler of Skrulls shall judge you for your crimes. I look forward to seeing how the Queen punishes you.”

Teddy gasped. “Queen? What queen?”

One of the Skrulls that restrained Teddy then struck him in the chest. “Silence, abomination!”

Teddy spat out blood, while he hung his head low.

Kl’rt laughed as he tilted Teddy’s head up to see the blood trickling down his chin. “Your heresy will see you face the harshest punishment. While you may carry the blood of our princess and former emperor, the Kree blood leaves you tainted.”

“So you punish me for having a non-Skrull parent? Something beyond my control!”

“Yes. For you must pay for the sins of the Kree Empire.” Kl’rt ascended into the ship with the Skrulls leading Teddy into the ship too.

*~*

Back on the road, Billy tried to keep up with Teddy who was walking oddly fast and trying to lead them. They kept to the streets since they didn’t know if Billy’s magic might be another signal in which the Skrulls used to track them.

Kate slung her bow and quiver back over her shoulder as she did catch up to Teddy. “Do you even know where the Sanctum is?”

“Oh! Right, I don’t,” said Teddy. “Billy, how do we get there?”

“We’ll take a left on the next street.” Billy took the lead as he told them to keep an eye out for Bleeker Street.

Cassie pulled her sleeves over her hands as a cold breeze blew through the buildings. “I can’t wait until we get to the Sanctum. This outfit is cute but I’m starting to freeze my ass off.”

“Ditto.” Kate ran her hands along her exposed arms.

Tommy handed Kate his shirt since he wore a tank-top underneath. He kept his eyes on Teddy though who remained close enough to Billy but still kept acting odd. “Yo, Teddy. Did the Skrulls hit your head that hard? You seem a little dazed.”

“I do?” Teddy scratched his head. “Well, one of them did punch me in the head. Maybe that’s what it is.”

Tommy chuckled. “It’s a real shame you’re not a big scary...what did Morgan call you? An ogre?”

Teddy nodded. “Yeah. It was an ogre.” He kept on walking while everyone else stopped dead in their tracks. He turned back just as a blast of blue magic struck him in the face and sent him flying towards a brick wall.

His vision was blurry and he was still seeing stars when he felt a heel get pressed down on his throat.

Kate stood over him with an arrow drawn. “Show yourself, Skrull. You’re not Teddy.”

The Skrull shifted out of Teddy’s human form to reveal his true face which was the Skrull that took the form of Officer Williams. “What gave me away?”

Billy’s eyes stayed black as swirls of blue magic flickered around his fingertips. “Morgan called Teddy a troll.” Billy twisted his fingers to wrap his magic around the Skrull with Kate stepping side. “Tell us where Teddy is.”

“I don’t know,” hissed the Skrull.

Billy’s eyes darkened as he strengthened his hold on the Skrull. The blue magic dug into the Skrull’s skin, slowly drawing blood from him as he was pulled to his feet. “Are you sure you don’t know? Because I think you do.”

The Skrull started to stumble towards the street, while Billy kept him from escaping. Kate still had an arrow drawn as Cassie stood behind her, while Eli and Tommy were ready to fight just in case he broke free.

“TellUsWhereTeddyIs.” The blue lights got brighter as power surged all around Billy, while the lights on the streets continued to flicker on and off. “TellUsWhereTeddyIs. TellUsWhereTeddyIs!”

“He’s Commander Kl’rt’s prisoner!” said the Skrull. “The abomination will be taken off-world to face judgment at the hands of the Skrull Queen. She will have him executed for carrying Kree blood.”

Billy’s hold on the Skrull loosened up as his rage was replaced with fear. The darkness in his eyes faded with tears slowly beginning to trickle down his cheeks. “No. Teddy.”

The Skrull used his strength to free himself and charged at Billy when Kate fired her arrow. The arrow went through the Skrull’s head, leaving him for dead on the sidewalk.

Tommy went over to hug Billy as he cried at the thought of Teddy being killed. “Don’t worry, Billy,” whispered Tommy. “We’ll save him. You have magic, remember? You can use your powers to track him.”

Billy nodded as he still couldn’t stop crying. “I can track him. I can track him.”

“We still need help,” said Cassie. “We can’t rescue Teddy from the Skrulls without the Avengers helping us. We need backup!”

“There isn’t time,” said Kate. “Even if Jen repelled the Kree, she’s too far away to be of help. So is everyone else.”

“We can’t leave Teddy to die, Kate!” said Tommy.

“And we won’t.” Eli stood over the Skrull’s corpse and placed a hand on his shield. He looked over towards the others with a smile forming on his face. “We don’t need the Avengers. We’re each other’s backup. We’ll save Teddy from the Skrulls by working together.”

Cassie gulped. “You really think we can do it on our own?”

“I have faith in us,” said Eli. “I believe in all of you. Do you believe in me?”

Tommy stepped away from Billy then patted Eli on the back. “You’re a bit of a dick, but I’ll go into battle with you, bro.”

Kate rolled her eyes. She slung her bow back over her shoulder. “You, boys, will die without my help. You can count me in.”

Cassie started to nod her head. “Okay! Maybe we can do this.”

They all looked over to Billy as he wiped away his tears with his sleeve. He clenched his fists and went over to join them. “We’re saving Teddy! Even if that means we have to fight every Skrull Radical and the Kree Empire!”

“Yeah!”

*~*

At the Avengers’ compound, Yon-Rogg hid himself behind a broken column as he heard the deafening screams of another one of his comrades. He closed his eyes and muttered a silent prayer for the fallen as he was left to face the She-Hulk alone.

He didn’t know if the she-beast was aware he was still alive, but either way, he needed to secure his escape.

During the initial chaos, Yon-Rogg had the foresight to expel an escape pod from the Helion II before it was too late. If he was to make his escape then he would need to sacrifice his ship once more.

Yon-Rogg logged into his communicator once more to activate the ship’s auto-pilot. The Hellion II began to hover in the air, which caught She-Hulk’s attention. He quickly logged in another command to activate the ship’s weaponry. While a small ship, it was loaded with enough firepower that it would surely keep She-Hulk far too busy to notice him.

Laser fire bombarded the remains of the compound as most of the building was already on fire and crumbling. The added assault ensured that She-Hulk worked too hard to ensure her safety and to destroy the ship as she naturally assumed Yon-Rogg was inside.

She-Hulk grabbed onto a steel beam and flung it at the ship. The laser fire destroyed the steel beam but gave She-Hulk the seconds she needed to leap after the ship. She smashed her heavy fists against one of the turrets before slamming the broken turret at the functioning ones.

Yon-Rogg watched as another Kree ship fell in battle, while he quickly made his escape. He slipped into the cockpit of the escape craft and activated it before She-Hulk could stop him.

As the engines roared, She-Hulk looked away to see Yon-Rogg attempting to flee. “No!” She broke one of the ship’s wings and flung it at Yon-Rogg’s escape pod.

However, She-Hulk was only seconds too late. The pod took to the sky with the wing narrowly missing its target. Yon-Rogg laughed as he activated his tracking system only to notice the presence of a Skrull ship only two hundred kilometers away.

It was then he knew that the Skrull Radicals must’ve captured the hybrid.

“They won’t leave this planet alive,” said Yon-Rogg as he followed the coordinates of the Skrull ship. “The hybrid is mine!”

*~*

Instead of running for the Sanctum, they decided to track Teddy down on their own.

They wandered downstairs to a secluded subway stop. Billy took a seat on a nearby bench and crossed his legs as he began to meditate. Sparks of red and yellow light started to flicker around his body while he created a tracking spell for Teddy.

“I invoke the power of Hermes, God of Roads and Travellers,” chanted Billy. “Guide is so we do not act cavalier. Guide us to find our missing friend. Show us before he meets his end.”

A wave of red and yellow magic rippled out from Billy as he dropped to the ground with Tommy and Cassie running up to him. They helped him back on his feet as a low mist gathered beneath them. While it wasn’t uncommon for the subways to get misty, it only got odder as the mist coiled itself together. 

Eli and Kate raise their weapons as they expected a fight only for the mist to turn into a ball of white light that started to float upstairs.

“It worked.” Billy leaned on Tommy to keep himself upright. “That spell will show us to Teddy.”

“Come on then!” Cassie started to run upstairs only to scream as she reached the top step.

They chased after Cassie only to find Cassie being restrained by a young man in a Kree uniform that resembled that of what Yon-Rogg and the others wore. The young man had what looked like a gun to her head with a violent expression on his face.

“Let her go!” said Kate.

“Tell me where the hybrid is!”

“We don’t know,” said Eli. “Now let Cassie go!”

The orb was already halfway down the road and almost out of sight as this young man held Cassie prisoner.

Billy kept one hand behind his back. “GunToFlowers. GunToFlowers,” he whispered. “GunToFlowers.”

The gun in the young man’s hand turned into flowers because of Billy’s magic. The young man panicked as he dropped the flowers and momentarily released Cassie.

“You’re done for asshole.” Tommy ran at full speed to knock the young man into the nearest brick wall as he brought Cassie back to them.

In doing so, the young man struck his head against the wall and slipped into an unconscious state. Billy wiggled his fingers to create a magical chain to restrain him so that even if he woke up, he would be their prisoner now.

Cassie went over to him, kicking her former captor in the stomach. She noticed the communicator on his forearm and started to fiddle with it since she had a decent knowledge of technology. “Kree tech really is something else. Hey! I can translate it into English. Huh, so the pretty boy’s name is Noh-Varr.”

“No, Stockholm Syndrome, Harley Quinn,” said Tommy. “We don’t have time to deprogram you.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry about me. Oh! A call log with real transcripts. And...Oh! He’s the one who bugged you, Billy.” Cassie kept keying in a few commands to see what was happening. “Jen’s alive, but Yon-Rogg left the compound to go after Teddy. He has the signal of the Skrull ship!”

Billy looked down the street to see that his spell dissipated as he was no longer present to sustain it. At least now though they had something just as good. “Where is the ship? I can get us there if it’s close.”

“Central Park!” Cassie released Noh-Varr’s arm as she got back on her feet. “We should get going if we’re going to save the boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

Tommy, Eli, Kate, and Cassie started to laugh. “Teddy’s so your boyfriend.” 

Billy smiled as he ignored that and told them to follow him to Central Park.

*~*

As the sun was beginning to slowly rise over Manhattan, the Skrulls were nearly ready to leave Earth.

The engines of the Skrull ship were fully warmed up now with all systems ready for immediate evacuation. Kl’rt took to his seat, while Teddy was restrained to a railing on the deck. Teddy was to be watched at all times.

“We’re ready to leave, commander,” said a Skrull.

“Then begin evacuation,” said Kl’rt. “And inform the rest of our agents to leave at once.”

A Skrull agent sent out the call, while the pilot began to steer the ship off-world.

However, before the ship could even get above the tallets of trees in the park, Yon-Rogg’s escape pod reached the area. Yon-Rogg started to fire on the ship’s engines to disable the ship and prevent the Skrulls’ escape. In the process, the destruction of the engines caused several explosions to go off on the ship as well as it crashed landed.

In the command room, the monitors and computers exploded with the Skrulls being thrown everywhere. Teddy yelped as a beam landed on the railing with enough force to shatter the chains that left him handcuffed. He took that as his chance to make a run for it when Kl’rt grabbed him.

“You won’t escape, abomination!” said Kl’rt. “I’ll die a thousand deaths before I let that happen.”

Teddy punched Kl’rt in the throat. Teddy punched hard enough that Kl’rt lost his breath, allowing Teddy to get away.

Just as Teddy made his way towards the exit, part of the ship’s deck exploded and killed a handful of Skrulls. Teddy and Kl’rt managed to avoid dying in the explosion as they were far enough from the explosion. However, a giant gape appeared that led outside.

Teddy jumped out with Kl’rt following as Kl’rt issued his command for the surviving Skrulls to evacuate the ship.

Teddy touched the ground just as Yon-Rogg’s ship bombarded the flaming Skrull ship with more laser blasts. Teddy tried to escape when Kl’rt arrived with a handful of other Skrulls.

“Stop him!” said Kl’rt.

The hatch of Yon-Rogg’s ship opened up with Yon-Rogg aiming a rifle at them. “Stand down, Kl’rt. The hybrid belongs to the Kree Empire.”

Kl’rt growled. “The abomination is to die at the hands of the Skrull Queen!”

“I have a name!” said Teddy. He quickly realized he wasn’t helping his cause just as Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt began to fire on each other. He covered his head as he attempted to find some type of safety when more Skrulls began to surround him.

Teddy cracked his knuckles as he didn’t know how he’d fight his way out of this mess.

*~*

“We’re close to Central Park! Keep running.”

Billy led them down the street. They could see the park’s tree line as well as see a bunch of smoke rising up to the sky.

Police sirens were starting to go off, but considering how late it was, the police weren’t going to be in the area anytime soon. 

Green energy fluttered around Tommy as he momentarily blurred out of sight. His body returned to normal with the green lights slowly fading. “I got as close as I could without anyone noticing me. The Skrull ship is down and there’s a nasty firefight going on between Yon-Rogg and the remaining Skrulls. I could spot Teddy trying to get away, but I couldn’t get any closer without anyone getting suspicious.”

“Good,” said Kate, “that means we still have time to save Teddy!”

Billy nodded. They weren’t too late just yet.

They ran across the street, not even paying attention as a car started honking at them. They kept running and went down an alleyway to take a shortcut when they heard someone yelling at them.

“William and Thomas Maximoff!”

They stopped dead in their tracks. While they didn’t recognize that voice, Billy and Tommy knew that hearing their full names was never a good thing. Everyone turned back just as two bodies stepped out of a parked SUV.

Nick Fury left the passenger seat, still wearing his signature eyepatch with his hands buried in his trenchcoat. He was joined by Maria Hill who exited the driver’s seat to open the trunk of the SUV.

Fury smirked at them as he started to clap. “Well, congratulations at this major fuck up. We were trying to keep Prince Dorrek hidden and you got half the Kree Empire and Skrull Radicals fighting over him at Central Park. You got him broadcasted to the world and got the compound destroyed. You’re lucky that I had you all bugged so that we could track you down.”

Eli brought his shield up as he got between Fury and everyone else. “How do we know you’re even the real Fury?”

“Because the Skrulls wouldn’t be bringing you naughty children presents like Saint Nicholas.” Fury turned to Hill as she tossed five suitcases over at them. Fury clicked on a small remote with the suitcases opening themselves up to reveal the contents hidden within. “I figured that the Kree and Skrulls would attack sooner or later. And my gut told me you, kids, would be caught in the middle of all of it.”

“So we had these put together,” said Hill. “Before we left, we spoke with T’Challa to have proper gear designed for you. We figured that your parents were Avengers or you were being mentored by Avengers that you’d want to join the front lines sooner or later. So we got Princess Shuri to design uniforms special for you.”

Eli, Kate, Cassie, Tommy, and Billy approached the suitcases and easily found the ones that corresponded to them.

Fury continued to speak, “These uniforms are designed to complement your skills and powers. They’re made with vibranium too so they can take a beating and will keep you safe. However, I still discourage you from taking any headshots since there aren’t full head masks.”

“Now, if you intend to save Prince Dorrek then I suggest you, kids, suit up,” said Fury.

“Stop calling us kids.” Tommy pulled his uniform out of the suitcase with a pair of orange goggles in hand. “We’re heroes now.”

Fury raised his eyebrows. “Are you?”

Kate grabbed her purple uniform. “We’ll prove it to you and everyone else when we save Teddy.”

Hill smiled. “Then get dressed. Those uniforms look a little difficult to change into.”

“A little?” Cassie held up her skintight red and black uniform.

“We don’t have a second to waste.” Eli grabbed his white pants.

Billy touched his red cape and smirked. “I know of a faster way for us to get dressed.” He had everyone grab their uniforms and make their way back in the direction of Central Park. “This should only take a second.” His eyes went black as blue light fluttered around him. “SuitUp. SuitUp. SUITUP!”

Blue light covered their bodies as their street clothes were replaced with their uniforms. Billy’s magic danced over their skin and left them feeling powerful as their vibranium-laced uniforms covered almost every inch of them. They were beginning to feel powerful enough to take on the entire world, but their focus remained on rescuing Teddy. They took deep breaths and admired their new looks as they knew that they were officially ready for battle.

Fury and Hill watched as these new heroes took off to save their friends.

“You think they can pull it off?” asked Hill.

Fury nodded. “These Gen Z kids are made of tough stuff. I almost pity the Skrulls and Kree for the terror they’re about to face.” 

*~*

Teddy hid behind some wreckage while he heard another Skrull die. The firefight went on all around him as he struggled to find a way to escape this mess. He peaked around the wreckage but ducked when a stray laser blast ricocheted from a broken beam.

Yon-Rogg used his jet boots to fly into the air while he battled Kl’rt. Yon-Rogg kept firing his rifle as Kl’rt flung fireballs in his direction.

Explosions went off in Central Park as Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt showed complete disregard for anything. Even as they both wanted to capture Teddy to bring him back to their superiors, Yon-Rog and Kl’rt fighting over him actually placed him in greater danger.

Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg were so consumed with their own fighting that they failed to see the arrow sailing towards them. 

The arrow reached between them as Kl’rt threw a fireball. The fireball struck the arrow, causing a massive explosion as the arrow was already laced with explosives. The explosion pushed Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt to the ground with Teddy looking over the wreckage to see who else was joining in on the fight.

And the biggest smile began to spread on Teddy’s face as he saw them.

Standing in the middle of the park were all his friends, dressed up in some striking outfits. 

Kate pulled another arrow from her quiver as she prepared to fire again. She wore a purple bodysuit that was partly see-through around her abdomen. Her left sleeve was designed to serve as an armguard so as not to irritate the skin or rip the fabric when she took her archery stance. exposed her Her purple glasses created a mapping of the area to give her the perfect equations to use when firing her arrows.

Eli raised his shield as he stood in an upgraded version of his old uniform. He still had a red mask to cover his eyes. The fabric of his blue jacket was scaley and bore a star over his left breast. He wore tight, white pants with red lines on the side and a brown belt that bore a golden eagle on the buckle.

Green light flickered around Tommy as he yawned. His uniform was by far the simplest. He wore a green and white bodysuit that made him sleeker and didn’t interfere with him taking his top speeds. He also wore a pair of orange goggles that were like Kate’s glasses in that it provided any information he needed to gauge his speed and how best to run through his opponents.

Cassie jumped from Eli’s shoulder as she grew back to normal size. She tied her dark hair into a ponytail as she wore a black and red bodysuit that wasn’t too different from her father’s uniform. On her chest, the black and red patterns form that of an ant to connect her even more to her father. She wore a simple black mask too that did little to cover her face.

Meanwhile, Billy descended from the sky with waves of blue magic gathering around him. His boots touched the ground as he wore a black bodysuit and gloves with his waist and ribs partly exposed with a swirl of tan-colored fabric. There was a silver headband over his forehead with a torn, red cape billowing in the breeze.

Yon-Rogg straightened himself upright as he raised his rifle at them. “And just who are you supposed to be?”

Eli smiled. “We’re your worst nightmare. We’re the Young Avengers!”

Kl’rt laughed along with Yon-Rogg. The fire traveled up Kl’rt’s arms while he turned his fists into stone as he prepared for battle. “Young Avengers? You really think highly of yourselves, children. Don’t think we’ll show you mercy.”

Yon-Rogg toyed with the trigger of his rifle. “It is hardly befitting of someone of my stature to kill children, but I’ll make an exception since you lot have caused me so much trouble.”

“Like hell, you will.” Billy took to the sky once more as he summoned waves of blue magic over the park. The light gathered into a massive ball that he flung at Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt with a magical explosion going off that parted the two away from each other.

“That was the signal!” said Kate. “Young Avengers一”

“Assemble!” finished Tommy and Cassie.

They ran towards Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg.

Kl’rt took to the sky with Billy directly at him. Kl’rt unleashed a blast of fire upon Billy, but Billy responded by firing a ray of magic at the fire. From the ground, Kate pulled the bowstring back to shoot an explosive arrow directly at Kl’rt’s face. 

The heat from the fire caused the arrow to explode sooner which stunned Kl’rt. Kate’s arrow gave Billy the moment he needed to launch a blast of magic at Kl’rt to send him falling to the ground.

Teddy tore his tattered shirt off to reveal his bulky, green chest, while his torn pants barely clung to his thick quads. He shifted his body slightly to harden his chest to make it more armor-like for battle. And his fingers became more like claws as he also grew a pair of wings from his back and took to the sky.

Teddy flew quickly after Kl’rt then slammed his fist across Kl’rt’s face to make him crash hard into the ground.

*~*

Meanwhile, Yon-Rogg had his own struggles to go through.

Tommy raced across the park to strike Yon-Rogg with rapid speed punches. Every time that Yon-Rogg tried to shoot at Tommy, he would be stunned as Tommy came running in from the opposite direction.

For Tommy, the world moved in slow motion. Tommy could see Yon-Rogg was exhausted from his fight with Jen and Kl’rt that he couldn’t keep up. That made the battle all too easy for Tommy as he punched Yon-Rogg in the gut then ran behind him to partly unzip Yon-Rogg’s uniform.

Tommy finally stopped running as Yon-Rogg panicked as his chest became exposed and his uniform slid down to his hips. “Keep your clothes on, pervert! There are minors present.”

Yon-Rogg got one arm back in the sleeve before he tried to fire at Tommy again only to miss when Tommy disappeared at superspeed.

“On your left!”

Yon-Rogg turned just in time to get a shield to the face. He stumbled backward as Eli’s shield flew back to his hand. Next, Eli did a flip kick to hit Yon-Rogg in the chest. The attack made Yon-Rogg further lose balance as Eli swung his shield once more.

Yon-Rogg stumbled aside to narrowly avoid getting hurt when he noticed something tiny.

Before Yon-Rogg could blink, Cassie grew back to normal size to punch him at full force. The momentum she built from jumping off Eli to unshrinking allowed her punch to hit thrice as hard. Yon-Rogg was seeing stars now as Tommy returned from his superspeed trip to bump into Yon-Rogg, and Tommy was the last man standing as he took a bite from his bagel.

Tommy’s momentum sent Yon-Rogg flying towards the wreckage of the Skrull ship.

Cassie huffed. “You got a bagel and you didn’t at least have the decency to bring me one?”

“You strike me as a carb-free, girl,” said Tommy with a mouth full of bread.

Cassie swatted the bagel out of Tommy’s hand. Tommy cried for his bagel as he had no other choice but to leave it on the grass.

There was no such thing as the fix second rule.

*~*

Kl’rt flew back into the air as he tried to pummel Teddy with his stone fists. Kl’rt got one good hit in before Billy used his magic to bind Kl’rt’s arms back. 

“You cannot bind me, witch boy!” Kl’rt pushed back against Billy’s magic. He forced himself free as his entire body became consumed in fire. He turned his attention to Billy since Billy wanted to keep interfering with his mission to capture Teddy.

Kl’rt rocketed towards Billy while covered in flames. Billy conjured a barrier around himself for extra protection as he flew away from the incoming Kl’rt.

From the ground, Kate watched as things were getting nastier. She drew an arrow that worked as a flame retardant. “Yo, Teddy! Give me a lift so I can save your boyfriend.”

Teddy swooped down from the sky to swoop Kate up in his arms. Kate yelled at him to take her higher, which he did just that.

Billy was still avoiding Kl’rt’s attack as Teddy and Kate were above them now.

“Let me go,” said Kate, “and be sure to catch me.”

“You got it, Kate!” Teddy unwrapped his arms from Kate.

Kate was coming in hot and aimed her arrow at Kl’rt. Kl’rt was building up his flames once more and was too distracted to notice what Kate was up to. “Not today, Satan!” She shot her arrow and it exploded with the powdery mixture proving its use as it did enough damage to smoother some of Kl’rt’s flames.

Kl’rt started to panic as the powder irritated his senses. He could no longer maintain his flight and came crashing down, landing not too far from Yon-Rogg now that Cassie, Eli, and Tommy were done kicking his ass.

Kate was still falling quickly when Teddy swooped back in for the rescue.

“Great shot, Kate,” said Teddy.

“I know. Thanks for the save,” said Kate. “Hey, Billy! Finish this!”

Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg looked up as blue light erupted across the sky over them. Even with the sun starting to rise, the intensity of Billy’s magic appeared brighter than the sun itself.

Billy hovered over Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg with his body radiating in blue light and his eyes were the darkest black. “Since you’ve been spying on us, I hope you understand how my powers work.” He clenched his fists with chains of magic soon ensnaring Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg. They were both dragged into the air so that they were face-to-face with Billy. “Given how stupid you look, my guess is that you know nothing so let me give you a crash course. Like my mother, my powers are tied to my emotions. When I’m calm, my powers are pretty balanced. When I’m scared, my magic is more prone to fail.”

Yon-Rogg gulped. “And when you’re angry?”

Billy smirked. “My powers become thrice as strong and my moral compass skews to the Dark Side of the Force.” Billy raised his hand into the air with the chains tightening around Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt. He swung his hand to his knee, which made Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt crash down to the ground at such speed and force that there was no coming back from this.

Although Billy didn’t kill them, Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt were too injured to make a comeback.

Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt groaned in agony but kept their heads low as their bodies surrendered.

Billy floated back to the ground with the magic leaving him. His eyes returned to their normal shade of brown as exhaustion soon riddled him to the point that he nearly fainted.

Luckily, a pair of strong arms caught him.

Billy looked up to see a teary-eyed Teddy cradling onto him. Billy smiled. “How do I know you’re the real Teddy?”

Teddy had one arm wrapped around Billy’s shoulders while his other hand moved to Billy’s lower back. He held Billy so delicately as he brushed their foreheads together. “I lost my breath when I first saw you after your mom introduced us. And I knew there was something special about you when you held my hand for the first time and dragged me into the kitchen to try pizza.”

Billy chuckled a little as he remembered that moment where they first met. He moved his hands up Teddy’s firm chest and wrapped them around his thick, green neck. 

Teddy didn’t stop there though. “And I knew that I was in love with you when you came to my room that night to wish me a good night.”

Billy lost his breath for a second. “You could’ve just stopped at pizza.” Billy leaned up to kiss Teddy, while Teddy pulled Billy even closer and deepened the kiss.

They were so blinded in their reunion that they didn’t even notice as Yon-Rogg attempted to draw his gun again.

Yon-Rogg tried to take aim at Billy when an arrow struck his hand. Yon-Rogg howled in pain as blue blood poured from his hand and he dropped his gun then looked over to see Kate standing close by as she reached for another arrow.

“Try that again, punk,” said Kate. “I dare you.”

Meanwhile, Teddy and Billy continued to kiss until Tommy slid his hand between them. “Yo, quit acting all gay and cute!” said Tommy. “We still got two, evil aliens to deal with.”

“Deal with?” Kl’rt tried to move back onto his feet, but his body was failing him. “You, child!”

“Enough with the insults.”

Threads of orange light ensnared Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg.

Teddy and the Young Avengers looked back just as they saw someone floating over them.

With grey streaks in his hair and beard, Doctor Stephen Strange descended upon Central Park in his thick, blue robes as the Cloak of Levitation billowed in the breeze. An orange disc of magic gathered over his hand.

Beside strange, pinkish-red light came from the sky as Wanda landed beside him. She was dressed in her Scarlet Witch uniform: a red corset and coat with black pants and knee-length, red boots. Her dark hair blew in the breeze as she channeled Chaos Magic to her hands as she prepared for Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg to escape.

More Avengers appeared from the park with Black Panther bringing Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Valkyrie, War Machine, Captain America, Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, and the Wasp with him.

The Hulk joined them with She-Hulk appearing close by without showing any signs of injury from her fight with Yon-Rogg.

Cassie ran over to Ant-Man who was shocked to see his daughter in uniform.

Eli saluted Captain America and Winter Soldier who returned the gesture.

Kate showed returned the arrow to her quiver as Hawkeye smiled at her.

Tommy and Billy went over to Wanda who quickly hugged both of her sons.

Teddy stumbled over to She-Hulk and bowed to her. “Forgive me for all the trouble I have caused you. This was all my fault.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Teddy,” said Jen as she reverted back to her human form.

“They’re the ones who have to answer for their crimes.” Doctor Strange maintained his spells to keep Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt bound. “Should I hurl them into the Dark Dimension? I’m sure Dormammu would appreciate the company.”

“That’s just too cruel.” Spider-Man started to laugh. “What did Dormammu do to deserve such a punishment?”

War Machine’s helmet came undone. “Then we toss them back to space? Is that alright with you, Carol?”

Golden energy burned above them as Captain Marvel flew down from the sky. She was dressed in her red and blue uniform with the star over her chest. Her blonde hair flowing wildly from all the energy she had channeling around her. “I think we can make that happen.”

Doctor Strange nodded his head. “Then we can do something about them too.” A series of portals opened up with the injured Skrulls being tossed carelessly to the ground. One of which included the Skrull disguising himself as Officer Jones. “We’ll send them all up to space.”

Captain Marvel went over to Teddy, patting him on the back. “You held your own pretty good there, Dorrek.” She looked at the Young Avengers. “All of you did.”

“It’s Teddy now. And how long have you been back on Earth?” asked Teddy.

Captain Marvel smiled and nodded her head. “Not long...Teddy. I’ve only been back for an hour with the remaining Skrulls. But it looks like I’ll be taking off again.” She started to walk over to Yon-Rogg. All the memories of her time in Starforce and the lies he told her started to resource a little. “_Commander_.”

“_Vers_,” groaned Yon-Rogg.

Captain Marvel started to build energy up around her fist. The temptation to blast him was great, but she maintained her self-control. “I’ll be taking them all to space. We’ll throw them into the first pods programmed to take them back to their homes.”

“Never!” Kl’rt jumped to his feet as he resisted Doctor Strange’s magic. He was still bound, but fighting vigorously. “I am a Super Skrull! I was bred to be genetic perfection. To wield powers greater than anyone. I will not be defeated by children and thrown carelessly aside by their elders!”

Billy rolled his eyes. “ShutUpSuperSkrull. ShutUpSuperSkrull. ShutUpSuperSkrull.”

Kl’rt went mute and glared at Billy.

Yon-Rogg chuckled. “Finally, someone shuts him up.” He groaned as Captain Marvel grabbed his arm and War Machine applied some proper handcuffs onto him.

The Skrulls received a similar treatment as they were all handcuffed and slowly escorted into one of Doctor Strange’s portals for the nearest spacecraft.

However, a Skrull activated an ear communicator without anyone noticing as he muttered something in the Skrull language that translated to “_Initiate Protocol i_.”

The Skrulls and Yon-Rogg were pushed into the portal as they would be dealt with properly. Nearly all the Avengers left too, except for Wanda, Jen, Black Panther, and Valkyrie.

Wanda turned to Billy and Tommy. “What were you thinking! Picking a fight with the Skrulls and Kree! You could’ve died!”

“But we didn’t?” Tommy shrugged his shoulders and offered a smile. His attempt at humor didn’t fly with Wanda though as she slapped him in the back of the head. “Ow! Sorry, mom.”

Billy nodded. “We were just trying to save Teddy. We knew if we tried to contact any of you that Teddy would be long gone by the time any of you arrived.”

“They were also the ones who put him in danger in the first place,” said Jen. “Even if they did save him.”

“Ay, but they kicked plenty of alien ass!” Valkyrie wrapped her arm around Teddy’s shoulder. “They did the deed and sent the Skrulls and Kree screaming into Hel. Cut them some slack, Wanda.”

Wanda gave Valkyrie a nasty side-eye that even as King of Asgard, Valkyrie was wise enough to stay out of this fight.

Valkyrie did bump her elbow into Teddy. “You did good. We watched the end of the battle and saw how impressive your performance was. You proved yourselves to be mighty warriors, worthy enough for Valhalla.”

Teddy smiled even though he had no clue what Valhalla was, but he took it as a compliment. 

Black Panther went over to the other Young Avengers as he admired their uniforms. “That truly is some of Shuri’s finer work. I see these uniforms protected you well in battle.”

“They did.” Eli bowed. “Thank you for allowing Fury to commission these uniforms, King T’Challa. And please, offer Princess Shuri our thanks as well.”

Cassie nodded. “They were a real lifesaver! And they look really cool.”

Black Panther chuckled. “Shuri would not sacrifice aesthetics for function. She always finds a way for both to appear in her designs.”

“That’s what makes her the smartest person on Earth,” said Kate.

Meanwhile, Wanda flicked her wrist. She erased the damage done to Central Park with her Chaos Magic as she sent the wreckage of the Skrull and Kree ships to the compound. The park regained its proper beauty as there were no signs of a battle taking place here. 

Wanda flicked her wrist once more and opened a portal that led directly to their home on the Upper East Side. She motioned for everyone to cross through it. Before Billy and Tommy could cross, however, she grabbed their wrists, while Teddy stayed behind. “We’ll discuss what to do about you later. Don’t think you’re off the hook just because you managed to clean up your own disaster. Understood?”

“Yes, mom.”

Wanda nudged them into the portal. Tommy crossed first, while Teddy took Billy’s hand so that they could cross together. Wanda caught sight of Billy holding Teddy’s hand, and she let out a deep sigh. She stepped into the portal with the pinkish-red energy closing behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will happen to our precious babies? Find out in the final chapter of Nobody's Sidekicks! And in the next chapter, you'll get a sneak peek at the next storyline coming out in December.
> 
> Kudo and comment!


	5. Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Howdy, y'all! Welcome to the final chapter of Nobody's Sidekicks. Its a bit shorter than the previous chapters since I'm just wrapping up this fun-filled story. More details at the end though on what comes next! Enjoy

Chapter 5: Team

Wanda’s portal took the Young Avengers to Billy and Tommy’s place in the Upper East Side. Their home was a cozy corner brownstone. Billy and Tommy’s bedrooms were on the third floor with the second-floor holding Wanda’s bedroom and office, while the first floor was the family space. They went to the third floor since there was no point in getting caught up in the argument downstairs.

Eli left his shield against the wall and leaned against the stair rail, listening to the fight. He couldn’t quite hear everything but he caught enough to know that things weren’t looking good for them. “They’re going to break us up,” said Eli. “Should we come up with a plan of our own? Crashing their meeting doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

Cassie stepped out of the bathroom and started to put her gloves back on. “Or it might help us out. We should have a say in what happens to our team.” She leaned over the railing to see if she could see who was downstairs. She caught a glimpse of Peter Parker then heard her dad’s goofy laugh. “Great! Peter and dad are here. They’ll vouch for us.”

Cassie patted Eli’s shoulder and they went into Tommy’s bedroom.

Tommy’s bedroom looked somewhat how they expected in that it was a disorganized mess, but they also saw piles of books and video games too. Tommy’s bed was pushed to the wall with a desk and TV stand on the other side.

Kate sat on the floor and was reading one of Tommy’s books, while Tommy sat on his bed and scrolled through his phone. And like Eli and Cassie, they still wore their uniforms.

“Aren’t you two worried?” asked Eli.

“About you, yes.” Kate closed the book. “I’ll be fine. Clint spent way too much time training me to let the Avengers keep me out of future fights.”

Tommy tossed his phone onto his pillow. “Good for you! I’m glad that you don’t have to worry about your future like we do.”

Eli shrugged. “When Kate puts it that way then I guess that means I’m in the clear too.” Cassie and Tommy glared at Eli. “Sorry. I mean...this totally sucks. We should put our foot down and force them to leave us alone. Or have Billy magic the Avengers into making us an official team.” Eli looked around the room before looking across the hallway to see that Billy’s bedroom door was closed. “Are those two?”

“Being gay and cute because they have absolutely no idea what’ll happen to them next?” said Kate. “Yes. Yes, they are.”

Cassie chuckled as she took a seat on the bed with Tommy. “They’re lucky to have each other.”

“For now.” Tommy grabbed his phone. “We kicked the Kree and Skrulls’ asses. What if this means that Teddy gets to go back to space? Or if they decide we can’t be Avengers that they’ll relocate Teddy somewhere else on Earth.”

“They wouldn’t be that cruel,” said Eli. “Would they?”

Tommy shrugged.

None of them really knew what the Avengers could be capable of if they put their minds to it.

*~*

Downstairs, Wanda muttered profanity in Sokovian as she massaged her temples.

A handful of Avengers was in her living room as the Kree and Skrull threat was starting to pass. T’Challa and Brunnhilde returned home to Wakanda and New Asgard. But now she had Jen, Clint, Sam, Peter, Scott, and Stephen Strange sitting in her living room.

The living room wasn’t too out of the ordinary. The decor made everything feel cozy enough as there wasn’t anything that made the design stand out too much, especially in giving it a witchy vibe. The only special touches that Wanda placed a small shrine to one corner of the room. The table was draped in black lace with two, framed photographs of Pietro and the Vision draped in a similar covering. 

The photo of the Vision was of him with Wanda during the time they spent on the run, the photo taken just a week before the Black Order attacked them. As for the photo of Pietro, it was one of many that Wanda had scattered about their home. The photo was taken not long after Pietro and Wanda finished high school. They were sitting at the steps of their favorite coffee shop in Sokovia. And underneath the lace was Pietro’s Star of David necklace, the same one that their parents gave him before they too died.

“What were they thinking!” Wanda paced around her living room. “They could’ve gotten killed! They had no idea what they were doing. They weren’t prepared for any of this. And Dorrek almost paid the price for their stupidity.”

Jen nodded. “They were pretty stupid. I’m still amazed that they didn’t get themselves killed.”

Peter came back from the kitchen with a soda in hand. “Hey! Go easy on them. They’re not the only one who got involved with crime-fighting while young.”

“Crime-fighting,” corrected Wanda, “not fighting an intergalactic war. I wouldn’t be losing my mind if my sons were just stopping some street muggers. They were fighting warring aliens!”

“Yeah, that’s a harder one to overlook,” said Sam. “But, remember Wanda, they’re okay. They pulled through this fight with only minimal injuries.”

“And the damage they did to the city wasn’t that bad,” said Clint. “Given that Kate and Eli are the only ones with proper training, the collateral damage was rather tame.”

Bucky coughed as he leaned closer to Clint as they both sat together on the sofa. “Not really helping. Lagos.”

Clint winced and sank into the sofa so as not to get himself into any trouble.

Jen got up from her chair and went into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. “So I guess the question is what to do with the kids...officially. We can either let them be superheroes or shut them down.”

“I vote shut them down,” said Wanda.

“How Sovokian Accords of you.” Scott jumped from his chair. He went over to Wanda and gently took hold of her hands. “Listen, Wanda, I get it. More so than anyone else, I understand why you’re freaking out. Billy and Tommy are your sons. If they get involved in the hero life then their lives are in even more danger than they usually are. I went through the same thing with Cassie.”

Wanda shook her head. “It’s not the same.”

Scott shrugged and nodded. “Maybe not, but it’s still pretty close. You’ve only had Billy and Tommy in your life for less than three years. You’ve had so little time with them, but don’t forget that I lost a lot of time with Cassie. I was in prison then when I got released I got stuck in the Quantum Realm for most of her life. I can count on one hand how many years I’ve had with Cassie where I wasn’t imprisoned somewhere.”

Scott gently squeezed Wanda’s hands. “And now I find out that Cassie isn’t just using a super-suit, but she injected Pym Particles into her body. As much as I love the idea of having my daughter fight bad guys beside me, I’m terrified that she’ll be putting herself in harm's way. And there is nothing I can to stop her just like there’s nothing you can really do to stop Tommy and Billy if they decide to go out and fight crime.”

Wanda held back tears as she let out a deep breath. “There’s no stopping them...is there?”

“Not really. The best thing we can do is guide them to make the best choices.”

“Which we will.” Strange conjured himself a cup of tea. He took a sip before placing the cup on the table and walking over to Wanda. “Listen, while I can empathize with this parental discussion you’re having, it does nothing to further the true problem. William’s powers.”

Wanda raised her eyebrows. “What about him?”

Strange flicked his fingers to create a visible memory of Young Avengers’ battle. He projected an image for everyone to see how effortlessly Billy defeated Kl’rt and Yon-Rogg. “I don’t need a Time Stone to know that William’s powers are unlike anything I’ve seen before. Its growth is instantaneous. If William’s powers didn’t function as they do then I’m certain the kids would’ve died.”

“How is this supposed to make me feel better, Strange?” asked Wanda.

“Letting William and Thomas be Avengers might be what’s best for him.” Strange waved his hand to dispel the projection. “It’s clear that William’s powers are constantly growing, but it’s like he said, when he’s calm, his powers are balanced. Thomas and their friends keep him balanced, which is the best thing for William as he continues to learn how to control them.”

“So you want me to throw my sons at any villains just to keep his powers in check?”

Strange shrugged. “Not so much in those words, but yes. You need to be more open to this path then you are.”

Wanda sighed as she hated what she was hearing, but knew that she needed to consider these options.

*~*

Billy slipped out of his uniform and changed into something far more comfortable. He left his uniform on the floor then slid on his sweatpants.

His bedroom was far more organized than Tommy’s room. All of his books, games, and collectibles were properly put away on bookshelves, while his desk was sorted perfectly as he still had some old school assignments to toss in the trash. His bed was at the center of the room since his window led to a fire escape.

He slipped out the window and onto the fire escape. He climbed up to the rooftop where Teddy sat and looked out to the city now that it was mid-morning and the city was fully alive.

Teddy reverted back to his human form so as not to scare half of Manhattan. The news reports already weren’t that kind as they reported the Skrulls’ attack as an alien invasion. Rhodey was doing his best to contain all the mess, but it was a lot of work to place on his shoulders for their mistakes.

Teddy was still shirtless and dressed in tattered pants as the remains of his clothes were probably still in Central Park.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Billy sat beside Teddy as they allowed their legs to dangle over the edge of the roof.

Teddy squeezed onto Billy’s hand as they sat close together. While Teddy didn’t know what a penny was, he could understand the sentiment. “I’m just really worried about what’s going to happen to us. To me.”

“You’ll stay here, on Earth, right?” Billy placed his head on Teddy’s shoulder. “It’s not like you and the other Skrulls have anywhere else to go. The Radicals and Kree will still hunt you down. If you stay on Earth then you can count on the Avengers for protection.”

“Right. But.”

Billy shook his head as he placed a finger over Teddy’s lips. “Let’s not worry about it. Not today at least. Not after everything we went through.”

Teddy smiled. He pulled his hand away from Billy’s grip to wrap it over Billy’s shoulder instead. He brought their foreheads together and sighed. “I still haven’t properly thanked you and the others for saving me.”

“Well, you did,” said Billy, “but I do enjoy hearing your gratitude.”

“Thank you, Billy, for saving me,” Teddy whispered over Billy’s lips. “Not just from Yon-Rogg and Kl’rt, but from my loneliness and fear. You’ve saved me in every way conceivable.”

Billy smiled as he wrapped his arms around Teddy’s chest. “Then I should thank you for that too. We’ve only known each other for like...less than two weeks, but I’ve never felt so alive until I met you. I love you, Dorrek.”

“And I love you, William.”

They leaned in for a soft, gentle kiss and stayed there on the roof until they heard Tommy yell at them from Billy’s window to come back inside.

*~*

So that Teddy could look presentable in front of the Avengers, Billy got him the biggest t-shirt he owned. While Billy usually swam in that shirt, it looked a little tight on Teddy but it was the best they could come up with on short notice.

The Young Avengers gathered in the living room with more people in the house. Fury and Hill joined them with Carol also back from space. Even Talos was brought in to join them as things seemed a bit more peculiar.

Eli crossed his arms over his chest. “So what’s the verdict then? You’re going to disband us and send us packing?”

Bucky chuckled. “Easy, Patriot.”

“You, kids, are in for some good news,” said Sam.

Carol and Talos went over to Teddy before they announced what was happening to the Young Avengers. “So I’ll be heading back to space soon,” said Carol. “However, Talos and Soren agreed to stay on Earth. And they’ll be taking care of you here, Teddy. If that’s okay with you?”

Teddy smiled. He felt anxious for so long about being forced to return to space and leaving Billy behind that he didn’t know what to say. He fought back tears and nodded. “I like that plan. Thank you, Carol. And thank you, Talos.”

“It is my honor, my prince,” said Talos.

“You better not be leaving Earth right now.”

The front door hung open with a dark-skinned, young woman entering the house. Her thick, black curls bounced over her shoulders as she strutted in rather casually dressed but also wore an old, Air Force jacket with the last name Danvers on it.

Carol’s face beamed with joy. “Lieutenant Trouble?”

“Hey, Auntie Carol,” said Monica Rambeau. “It’s been too long. I’m glad that Wanda gave me a call before you left Earth again.”

Carol ran over to Monica and the two shared a long hug as they quickly lost themselves in conversation.

While those two had their reunion, Wanda took a deep breath. She went over to Billy and Tommy since they were the most anxious about everything. She stayed silent for a long while before finally deciding to share her decision.

“If I let you be Avengers,” said Wanda, “there are several conditions I need you to meet.”

Tommy and Billy grinned as they quickly threw themselves at Wanda, hugging her tightly.

Meanwhile, Cassie went over to Scott. “What about me? Am I allowed to be a Young Avenger still?”

Scott smiled. “Of course, Peanut, but we need to work some things out with your mom first.”

“Okay!” Cassie hugged Scott.

Kate chuckled as she leaned against the sofa where Clint sat. “Do you know what the conditions are? Or are you too much of a big kid to be helpful?”

Clint patted Kate’s arm. “Oh, Katie. Of course, I know what the plan is. The first condition is that you, kids, will operate only in the city.”

Tommy stopped hugging Wanda. “So we’re the friendly neighborhood, Young Avengers?” said Tommy. “After we stopped an alien abduction? Major downgrade.”

Peter glared at Tommy. “Don’t talk shit about my gig! You gotta learn somewhere. And it’s better to learn in the streets then letting your first big fight be a superhero, civil war or fighting someone Thanos level.”

Before Tommy could respond, Billy elbowed him in the ribs. “Operating in the city? We totally agree. What are the other conditions?”

“School comes first,” said Wanda. “Obviously, this rule doesn’t apply to Kate and Eli since they graduated. However, you, Tommy, and Cassie are graduating this year so no fighting crime until you’re done with your schoolwork. Short of an immediate emergency.”

“What about me?” asked Teddy.

Talos raised his brows. “You wish to be a Young Avenger too, Prince Dorrek?”

“It’s Teddy, now. And I already am one,” said Teddy. “Right?”

“Hell yeah, you are!” Tommy slung his arm around Teddy’s shoulders. “Anything else? Like are you making us your sidekicks?”

Jen chuckled. “The Young Avengers will answer to The Avengers, but you will retain a large degree of independence unless you prove you’re incapable of handling such freedom. However, you still need a lot of training.”

“Which is why,” Fury said, butting into the conversation, “I’m making arrangements for a real grown-up to watch over you.”

“And until those arrangements are made,” said Wanda, “the Young Avengers will be taking a break. You can get back in uniform once we have everything set up for you. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” said the Young Avengers.

*~*

One week later, the Young Avengers walked down the street together to the building that would serve as their headquarters. It was a black site in the middle of Brooklyn, designed as such for their protection since the Avengers didn’t want the public to know about this young team yet. The Young Avengers were to operate in the shadows for as long as possible and get as many hours of training as they could before they fell onto the public eye.

Who knew how long that would last though.

Cassie held onto Eli and Tommy’s arms as she strutted along the street. “Are we sure about this plan? Portaling me into town for every mission could get exhausting.”

“Don’t worry about it, Cass,” said Billy. “My magic will be plenty powerful enough for continental teleportation soon.”

“And if Billy fucks up,” said Tommy as he held Cassie’s arm, “I’ll run you into town. At least until you graduate and you move here.”

“Then we’ll be roomies!” Kate blew a kiss over to Cassie as she led them to their base.

The building was rather unassuming as it was an old warehouse that hadn’t been gentrified. It was fenced off with steel links and a weird lock that had a beastly face on it. 

Billy went over to the lock and muttered a spell into it. The spell undid the lock so that they could properly enter. “Looks like Strange’s locking spell works.” Billy held the gate open so that everyone could get inside. “I’ll teach you the magic word later. Oh! And just as a warning be sure you say the spell properly. If you mispronounce the word then you might turn yourself into a toad.”

“Good to know,” said Eli.

They walked to the warehouse together with a fingerprint lock on the door handle. Eli tested it and it unlocked for him.

Stepping into their new base, they marveled at everything they saw. While the exterior of the building was unassuming, the interior was amazing. The walls were all exposed brick except for one wall which was painted red. Monitors were hung to the red wall that showed everything going on in the city. 

Bookshelves decorated one of the walls, while another featured several couches. A workout station and a functional kitchen were also visible, and there was an entire second floor that they had yet to explore.

“Wow!” said Teddy. “This is amazing.

“Glad you approve.”

From the second floor, Maria Hill showed up with a tablet in hand. She pushed a key which caused the lights to dim down as the blinds opened to reveal the outside. “Don’t worry about that. You can see out but nobody can see inside,” said Hill. “I’ll explain how everything works in just a minute. But first, I’d like you to meet your new teammate. Fury and I had our eyes on her for a while now, and we figured this was her best chance to get some training.

Hill descended down the spiral staircase joined by a brown-skinned girl.

The moment they touched the first floor, the girl ran out of Hill’s reach to practically launch herself at the others. Her wavy, black hair flowed behind her as she wore a white t-shirt with a yellow lightning bolt on the front.

“Oh my Gaga! You’re them!” She started to bounce around as she quickly shook everyone’s hands as her voice squeaked with every word. “I saw you all over the news! I can’t believe we’re finally meeting.”

“And you are?” asked Eli while the girl shook his hand next.

She coughed. “Sorry about that! I’m easily excitable. My name is Kamala Khan. But my superhero name is Ms. Marvel.”

Cassie gasped as she turned to Kate. “My dream for an all-girl, superhero team is coming true.”

“All-girl superhero team!” said Kamala. “I’m so in, Cassie! Where do I sign up?”

Cassie and Kate raised their eyebrows. “You know her name?” asked Kate.

Kamala nodded. “Ms. Hill filled me in on you guys and what you can do. Oh! It’s only fair that you know what I can do. I’m a polymorph so I can change my shape.” She raised her fist which quickly grew twice its size, which startled everyone. “See!”

“Cool,” said Tommy as he pushed Kamala’s hand away from his face. “Do you know Carol? Is that why you’re calling yourself Ms. Marvel?”

“Not personally, I just think she’s really cool,” said Kamala. “And what of the rest of you? I know Eli is Patriot and Kate is Hawkeye now, but what’s the rest of your codenames?”

Cassie smiled. “I’m Stature!”

“You’re sticking with that one?” asked Kate.

“What’s wrong with Stature? You liked it when I first told you about it.”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “I’m keeping mine simple. You can call me Speed when we’re on the field.”

Billy snorted. “That’s an unimaginative name.”

“Who are you supposed to be, Harry Potter?” asked Tommy.

Billy raised his hand as it began to glow with blue light. “You can call me...Wiccan.”

Kamala kept watching them with starry eyes. Then she looked over to Teddy just as he began to shift into his Skrull form. She didn’t scream in horror like most would’ve expected as she instead began to scream with joy. “Oh! I saw pics of you with Billy online. There were people at Central Park when you fought the Kree and Skrull, and they took pictures of you two making out!”

Billy’s jaw dropped a little. “There are pictures of me and Teddy making out all over the internet?”

Tommy cackled as he walked over to the couch.

Kamala didn’t catch the joke. She was too busy beaming with joy as she got between Billy and Teddy. “So are you two really a couple because you look so cute together even when Hulkling isn’t green.”

“Hulkling?” asked Teddy.

“Yeah! Everyone online is calling you the _Hulkling_ since you kinda look like a Hulk.” Kamala looked up at Teddy’s dark eyes. “Why? Do you hate the name?”

Teddy shook his head. “No. I kinda like it. I think I can get used to being called Hulkling.”

Hill started to cough to get their attention again. She kept a smile on her face as she appeared more relaxed around the kids then she usually was around Fury. “It warms my heart to see you getting along, but there’s someone else you need to meet. He’ll be acting as your mentor until he feels you’re right to strike out on your own. I know kids aren’t fond of older people but there’s a lot you can learn from him. You can come out now.”

Kamala squealed since she knew exactly who was up there. She got to talk with him for a while before the others finally showed up and she couldn’t wait to see them lose their minds.

Tommy left the couch as he joined the others to see who was upstairs.

Coming to the railing of the second floor was an old man dressed in a comfy sweater and pants. He was up there in years as thick wrinkles covered his face even as he retained a full head of gray hair. Despite his age, there was still a strong glimmer of hope in his blue eyes as he smiled at them.

Eli chuckled as he knew that he should be saluting him but couldn’t move his arms. “No way!”

Cassie and Tommy were both left speechless, while Kate looked starstruck.

Teddy was the only one who looked confused as he turned to Billy who stared at the man with wide-eyes. “And that is?”

“He’s Steve Rogers,” whispered Billy. “Captain America.”

Steve Rogers kept on smiling. “Hello, Young Avengers. I look forward to working with you.”

Hill passed the tablet over to Kamala. “Steve Rogers trained his Avengers team with Natasha Romanoff. He’s got plenty to teach you so be sure to listen closely.”

“Don’t scare them, Hill,” said Steve. “They already look like heavy hitters. I just need to make sure they can work as a team.”

“Holy shit,” said Tommy, “Captain America is going to train us.”

“_Language_.”

Tommy gulped. “Sorry, Captain America.”

Billy chuckled. He never saw his brother apologize to anyone, but he couldn’t blame him for not wanting to disappoint Steve Rogers. “We’re ready to assemble, Mr. Rogers. Teach us everything you can.”

“Good. That was exactly what I was hoping to hear.”

*~*

Watching from across the street, a pale-faced boy with dark hair leaned off the edge of a rooftop with green magic flickering around his body so he could see through the building’s defenses. He saw everyone inside the building but kept his eyes focused on Billy.

He didn’t look much younger than the Young Avengers, but his green eyes showed signs of someone who carried the wisdom of someone far older.

No one would suspect anything of him though, especially with him dressed in jeans and a Steven Universe t-shirt. It was the perfect disguise for someone as mischievous as him.

“The child witch isn’t ready yet, but he’s getting there. Soon he’ll be the perfect tool for me.”

The boy smirked to himself. He released the magic slowly so as not to risk Billy sensing his great, albeit diminished, power.

“What to do in the meantime?” The boy closed his eyes and thought to himself. If he was to use Billy for his plans then he would need to make sure that he can keep a proper watch on Billy. “A tracking spell is too simple. A curse would be far more fun, especially to make sure his body ready. It would be a true shame if his body wasn’t strong enough for _her_.”

The boy ignited his hand with fiery green and black magic as he began to mutter a curse in a dead language. The power was slowly building when he felt another presence standing over him.

“Do you really want to try that, _chico_? Or should I punch you into your next life?”

The boy slowly looked up to find a dark-skinned, young woman towering over him. Her dark curls flowed freely from her red hoodie and denim jacket, all of which bore star patterns over them. She wore a light-blue t-shirt with a giant star over her chest along with a pair of black leggings to go with her red boots.

She glared at the boy with her dark eyes as she slowly began to crack her knuckles.

“Not you again, America.” The boy canceled his spell and jumped out of her way before she could attempt to punch him. “Why must you constantly get in my way?”

“That’s Ms. Chavez to you, Brat Loki.” America Chavez kept following Loki, watching every step he took since she knew he wasn’t one to play around with. “You think after dying and getting reborn as a kid, you would quit your shit. But no, you just revert back to your trickster self.”

As did this younger Loki as this wasn’t his first time encountering America. “You know nothing of gods, _Ms. Chavez_.” Loki crossed his arms over his chest and started to laugh. He could toy with her too if he so desired. “You can’t interfere with my plans forever. You’ll let your guard down sooner or later.” Green fire soon consumed Loki as he began to vanish from sight.

With Loki gone, America took a deep breath. He was right. She would let her guard down eventually and that would be his chance to strike.

America stomped on the ground with a giant star appearing beneath her as her body began to slowly sink into the star. She briefly looked across the street where Billy and the Young Avengers’ headquarters was. “Don’t fuck it up, kid. I’m counting on you.”

The star swallowed America as she too disappeared.

*~*

It didn’t take long for Noh-Varr to figure out a way to survive on the Terran planet. 

After his humiliating defeat, he was left all alone since the Avengers failed to remember he was on Earth due to them thinking Yon-Rogg was the only surviving Starforce member. He took advantage of the Avengers’ mistake to shed himself of his Starforce uniform

In the process of him stripping out of his uniform, Noh-Varr caught the eye of an older gentleman who was well-financed by Terran standards. And all Noh-Varr needed to do was to act like eye candy, which wasn’t difficult at all for him.

What Noh-Varr thought of as punishment turned out to be a paradise for him. Life on Earth was simpler and his good looks ensured he didn’t have to lift a finger for anything.

He took the elevator up to the flat he shared with his wealthy gentleman, he never bothered to learn the man’s name, as he carried bags of clothing. He played more of Destiny’s Child’s music on his phone as he truly did enjoy their angelic harmonies.

However, when he inserted the key into the lock, his eyes lit up. He tore his headphones off and dropped the bags to the ground. He slipped a small, Kree pistol from the sleeve of his shirt before gently pushing the door open.

It was a good thing that his instincts remained sharp. The moment he crossed into the flat, he heard the roar of a rifle and felt the heat of plasma fire not too far.

Noh-Varr dropped to the ground before rolling into the kitchen with plasma fire bombarding him.

“Do I get to know who is trying to kill me?” asked Noh-Varr.

“Sergeant Varr, you are hereby under arrest by decree of the Kree Emperor for failure on the mission to retrieve the hybrid.”

Noh-Varr rolled his eyes. “I forgot there were Kree sleeper agents on this dirtball of a planet. And here I was just beginning to enjoy my new life.” He slid his hand underneath a compartment of the countertop to pull out a larger, Kree rifle that would do far more damage than the pistol. With the rifle in hand, he jumped to his feet to find four Kree agents in his flat. And behind them was the corpse of his benefactor. “Damn! You killed my sugar daddy too. Now I’m really annoyed.”

The Kree agents activated their rifles as they all took aim at him. “Surrender now, Sergeant Varr,” said one of the agents. “Or else we will be forced to execute you.”

Noh-Varr glared at them. “I’d like to see you try. Because I’m a survivor. I’m not gon’ give up.”

Plasma fire bombarded the flat as Noh-Varr and the Kree agents began to fight to the death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yaaaaaas, y'all. Ms. Marvel, Kid Loki, and America Chavez are going to be involved in the future of Young Avengers and you can bet that Noh-Varr will be returning too. Any guesses where the story will go next? Well, you'll find out next week when chapter 1 of Young Avengers: Mother Knows Best drops! 
> 
> And if you want to know the songs behind the chapter titles, they're as followed: "When the Day Met the Night" by Panic! at the Disco, "Sit Next to Me" by Foster the People, "Disco Inferno" by the Trammps, "Children of the Revolution" by T Rex, and "Team" by Lorde.
> 
> Kudo and Comment!!!


End file.
